CIVIL GOVERNMENT 



OF 



PENNSYLVANIA 



C . L . GRUBER 




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Gopyright^?:L2 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



The Government 



OF THE 



State of Pennsylvania 



INCLUDING 



Local Government 



BY 



cr l/gruber, a.m. 

Professor of Civics in the Keystone State Normal School, 
Kutztown, Pennsylvania. 



EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 

BOSTON 
New York Chicago San Francisco 






Copyright, 191 2 

BY 

EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 



*^ 



£Ci.A309760 



PREFACE 

An act of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, ap- 
proved May 21, 1 90 1, provided "That after the first Mon- 
day of June, one thousand nine hundred and two, no teacher 
in this Commonwealth shall receive from a county, city, or 
borough superintendent, a certificate as a teacher who has 

not a fair knowledge of civil government, 

including State and local " This act had the 

effect, indirectly, of placing civil government in the curri- 
culum of most of the schools. The act also gave due prom- 
inence to the study of State and local government, the study 
of which was too often neglected, viewed briefly and hur- 
riedly, or overshadowed by a disproportionate discussion of 
national government or foreign governments. 

The study of the national government is in no wise com- 
plete without a proportional study of State and local gov- 
ernment, since these are after all but a part of the general 
system of national government. State and local govern- 
ment are as rich in detail as national government is; and 
it is this fact that renders it a difficult matter to write a text- 
book on State and local government presenting the essen- 
tial facts, conditions, and principles without making it too 
cumbrous. It is the object of this textbook to place the 
study of State and local government in its proper rank by a 
more extensive discussion than is usually accorded to this 
department of civics, but at the same time an endeavor has 
been made to confine these discussions within moderate 
compass. 

C. L. Gruber 
Keystone State Normal School 



CONTENTS 



PAGI 



State Government y 

Introduction 7 

The Government of Pennsylvania before the Adoption 

of the Constitution of 1873 . . . .13 
The Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania . 25 
The Government of Pennsylvania under the Con- 
stitution of 1873 63 

The Declaration of Rights .... 63 

The State Legislature 64 

Legislation 74 

The Executive Department . . . .80 
The Judicial Department . . . . 95 
Impeachment and Removal from Office . . 101 

The Oath of Office 102 

Suffrage and Elections 103 

Taxation and Finance . . . . 112 

Education 115 

The Militia 127 

Public Officers 129 

Amendments 132 

Appendix to State Government . . . 135 

County Government 141 

Township Government 161 

Townships of the Second Class . . .163 
Townships of the First Class 172 

Borough Government . • & ■ . .175 

City Government . * * * * . .179 



STATE GOVERNMENT 



INTRODUCTION 

A State of the United States. A State is the largest 
political division of the United States. It has a distinct 
government of its own established by the people of the 
State. The first thirteen States of the United States 
had their origin in the thirteen colonies established by 
England in this country. Most of the other States had 
been organized as Territories before their admission into 
the union. In the United States a State is more distinctly 
a political organization and at the same time more definitely 
a member of the union and a part of the national govern- 
ment than in any other nation of the world. 

Relation of a State to the Nation. The States are 
subordinate and inferior to the nation. They can transact 
no affairs which are strictly national and the Constitu- 
tion of the United States and laws passed by Congress 
place other matters beyond the control of the States. In 
the management of their individual affairs, however, there 
is very little national interference. In the internal govern- 
ment of the country, the preservation of order and the 
administration of the law, the State really bears by far 
the greater portion of the burden of government. 

The Constitution of the United States guarantees to 
each State a republican form of government. The 
government of a State is therefore very similar to the 
government of the United States. 

7 



8 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Congress enacts laws for the nation and for the wel- 
fare of the States collectively. The States enact laws for 
the regulation of affairs not controlled by national statutes. 
In some cases when Congress passes a law regulating 
matters connected with the States, it is the custom for the 
State legislature also to pass a law in pursuance of the 
law enacted by Congress. Federal law is also distinctly 
State law and must be observed by the people and by the 
officers of State and nation alike; but State law is not 
observed beyond the confines of the State. 

The national constitution guarantees to the States pro- 
tection against invasion and, when application is made, 
also against domestic violence. This idea of protection 
is reciprocal. If the nation finds the forces at its com- 
mand inadequate, the militia of the States may be em- 
ployed or a call for volunteers may be issued. On the 
other hand, if a State finds itself unable to suppress in- 
ternal disorders, it may call upon the nation for assistance. 
If a State fails to preserve order the national government 
may interfere on its own account. This was done by 
President Cleveland, in July, 1894, during the Chicago 
railway strike, when he called out United States troops to 
secure the transmission of the mails and prevent obstruc- 
tion of interstate commerce. 

The system of State courts is independent of the sys- 
tem of national courts. Federal courts rarely deal with 
State laws unless to pass upon their constitutionality with 
respect to the United States Constitution, but State law is 
applied by federal courts when there is no federal statute 
applying to the case. State courts deal with both State 
and federal statutes, but their interpretation of federal 
statutes is subject to revision by federal courts. If a State 
court declares a State law to be in violation of the United 
States Constitution, its decision is final; but if it main- 
tains the law to be in accordance with the United States 



RELATION OF PEOPLE TO STATE 9 

Constitution, the decision may still be reversed by a 
United States court. The judges of the State courts 
shall be bound by the supreme law of the land, " anything 
in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary 
notwithstanding" (United States Constitution, Article 
VI, Clause 2). 

Relation of State to State. The States as individual 
members of the union are relatively equal to each other. 
While their governments differ in some respects, yet there 
is a general resemblance. Some confusion and friction has 
been caused by the great variety of laws in the different 
States on the same subject; yet there is necessarily a great 
deal of uniformity since State laws are founded mainly on 
the common law of England. This want of uniformity 
might be remedied by an amendment to the national con- 
stitution giving Congress power to pass uniform laws for 
the States or by interstate committees appointed to secure 
uniformity in legislation. The adoption of the United 
States Constitution had the effect of wiping out the bitter 
State jealousies that existed before that time. The 
national constitution provides that "full faith and credit 
shall be given in each State to the public acts, records, 
and judicial proceedings of every other State." 

Relation of the People to the State. The people are 
subject to the laws of the State and of the United States. 
A citizen of the United States is a citizen also of the State 
in which he resides. The citizen of a State owes allegiance 
to his State, but his first and highest allegiance he owes to 
the nation. The people are most generally and most 
directly affected by State laws, especially with reference 
to their social and legal relationships in the community 
in which they dwell. "The citizens of each State shall be 
entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in 



IO THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

the several States." A citizen of one State can therefore 
not be denied citizenship nor the privileges of a citizen 
in another State, provided he abides by the regulations 
made for citizens of that State." 

Political Divisions of the United States. The largest 
political division of the United States is a State. States 
are divided into counties and a county consists of a num- 
ber of townships. A township is the lowest political 
division with a practically complete system of govern- 
ment, but townships consist of a number of sub-school 
districts and road districts and may be subdivided into 
voting precincts. A county may also contain cities or 
boroughs and these may be subdivided into wards. The 
government of all the divisions of a State is however cen- 
tralized in the State government. 



"When the great and wise God had made the world, of all 
his creatures, it pleased him to choose man his deputy to rule 
it: and to fit him for so great a charge and trust, he did not only 
qualify him with skill and power, but with integrity to use them 
justly." 

"Any government is free to the people under it (whatever 
be the frame) where the laws rule, and the people are a party 
to those laws, and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy, or 
confusion." 

"Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give 
them; and as governments are made and moved by men, so 
by them they are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather 
depend upon men, than men upon governments. Let men be 
good, and the government cannot be bad; if it be ill, they will 
cure it. But, if men be bad, let the government be never so 
good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn." 

"I know some say, let us have good laws, and no matter 
for the men that execute them; but let them consider, that 
though good law r s do well, good men do better; for good laws 
may want good men, and be abolished or evaded by ill men; 
but good men will never want good laws, nor suffer ill ones." 

"The great end of all government, viz.: To support power 
in reverence with the people, and to secure the people from 
the abuse of power; that they may be free by their just obedi- 
ence, and the magistrates honorable, for their just administra- 
tion: for liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience 
without liberty is slavery." 

— Preface to Perm's Frame of Government 



THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

BEFORE THE ADOPTION OF THE 

CONSTITUTION OF 1873 

Origin of Pennsylvania. The year 1681 marks the 
beginning of Pennsylvania as a separate political organi- 
zation. In this year Charles II granted a tract of land 
embracing the present State of Pennsylvania to William 
Penn, an eminent Quaker, in payment of a debt of six- 
teen thousand pounds due to his father from the crown. 
This grant also afforded a place of refuge for the perse- 
cuted Quakers. In 1682 Penn obtained from the Duke 
of York a grant of the territory embraced in the present 
State of Delaware, thus extending his domain to the open 
sea. This grant was known as the " three lower counties'' 
or the " territories" of Pennsylvania. The government 
of Delaware was connected with that of Pennsylvania 
until the Revolution. 

Penn sent his cousin, William Markham, as his deputy 
to take possession of the country. Markham arrived early 
in July, 1681. The next year, October 27, 1682, Penn 
himself arrived in the ship Welcome and landed at New 
Castle. Markham had already purchased land of the 
Indians and made a treaty of friendship with them. 
On October 30 Penn went to Upland, w T hich he named 
Chester, and made arrangements for the meeting of the 
first general assembly. He then continued his journey 
up the Delaware to Shackamaxon, in the present Kensing- 
ton District of Philadelphia, where he met the Indians 
early in November, under a large elm tree, and made his 
famous treaty with them. Penn next laid out the city 
of Philadelphia, near the Indian village of Quequenaku, 

13 



14 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

"the grove of long pines. " Few houses were built in 
1682, but in 1683 about one hundred houses were erected 
and the city grew rapidly in size and population, 

Although it is possible that Sebastian Cabot (1498), John 
Verrazano (1524), and Stephen Gomez (1525) looked'into 
Delaware Bay, positive proof of this fact is wanting. In 1609 
Henry Hudson spent a day in Delaware Bay and in 1610 Lord 
Delaware discovered the mouth of the Delaware River; but 
the territory of what afterwards became known as Pennsylvania 
was probably not seen by Europeans before the year 1616, 
unless indeed it was seen by Captain John Smith in his voyages 
up the Susquehanna in 1608. In this year (1616) the Dutch 
Captain Hendrickson discovered the Schuylkill River and near 
the present site of Philadelphia he met three Netherlanders 
who had come from Fort Nassau* near Albany, by way of the 
Mohawk and the Delaware, Holland now claimed the territory 
along the Delaware River and in 1623 Captain Mey erected 
Fort Nassau, near Gloucester, N. J. In 1631 a party of 
Hollanders Under Pieter Heyes established themselves on 
Lewes Creek, near Cape Henlopen. This settlement, called 
Swaanendael, was totally destroyed by the Indians in 1632. 

In the meantime King Gustavus Adolphus, of Sweden, had 
been formulating plans for American colonization and in 1638 
a party of Swedes and Finns under Peter Minuit built Fort 
Christina, near Wilmington. The land from Cape Henlopen to 
the falls of the Delaware at Trenton was purchased from the 
Indians and the territory on the west bank of the Delaware 
practically passed out of Dutch control. In 1643, John Printz, 
the third governor of New Sweden, built a fort on Tinicum 
Island, about twelve miles below Philadelphia. He named 
the settlement New Gottenberg and it was probably the first 
European settlement in Pennsylvania. 

In 165 1, to counteract Swedish influence, the Dutch left 
Fort Nassau and built Fort Casimir, near New Castle, Dela- 
ware. The Swedes under Governor Risingh captured Fort 
Casimir in 1654. Thereupon Peter Stuyvesant, Governor of 
New Netherlands, received orders to conquer the Swedes. 
He succeeded in this undertaking in 1655 and the Dutch again 
exercised authority on both sides of the Delaware; but in 1664, 
when King Charles II granted this region to his brother, the 



BOUNDARIES OF PENNSYLVANIA 1 5 

Duke of York, New Netherlands was taken by the English 
under Colonel Richard Nicolls. With the exception of one year 
it remained under English control until the Revolution. 

Name of Pennsylvania. Penn at first intended to name 
the province New Wales. The immense forests then 
suggested the name Sylvania, but the king ordered it to 
be called Pennsylvania, "Penn's Woods/' in honor of 
William Penn's father, Admiral Sir William Penn. The 
original spelling in Penn's charter is "Pensilvania." 

Territory and Boundaries of Pennsylvania. Penn met the 
Indians "on the broad pathway of good faith and good will" 
and instead of appropriating their land he bought it from them 
by making purchases of large tracts at different times. 

According to Penn's interpretation of the boundaries men- 
tioned in his charter his grant covered a much larger area than 
is now included in the State. The charter of King Charles de- 
fined Penn's grant as "All that Tract or Parte of Land in 
America, with all Islands therein conteyned, as the same is 
bounded on the East by Delaware River, from twelve miles 
distance Northwards of New Castle Towne unto the three and 
fortieth degree of Northerne Latitude, if the said River doeth 
extende so farre Northwards; But if the said River shall not 
extend soe farre Northward, then by the said River so farr as 
it doth extend; and from the head of the said River, the 
Easterne Bounds are to bee determined by a Meridian Line, 
to be drawne from the head of the said River, unto the said three 
and fortieth Degree. The said Lands to extend westwards five 
degrees in longitude, to be computed from the said Easterne 
Bounds ; and the said Lands to be bounded on the North by the 
beginning of the three and fortieth degree of Northern Lati- 
tude, and on the South by a Circle drawne at twelve miles dis- 
tance from New Castle Northward and Westward unto the be- 
ginning of the fortieth degree of Northern Latitude, and then by 
a streight Line Westward to the Limitt of Longitude above- 
mentioned. " 

William Penn reasoned that the beginning of the fortieth 
degree meant the thirty-ninth parallel, but Lord Baltimore 
claimed that Maryland extended to the fortieth parallel. When 



1 6 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Perm's charter was written it was supposed that the fortieth 
parallel passed through New Castle. This dispute caused some 
bloodshed in the overlapping territory. In 1732, an agreement 
was reached by which the boundary was to be located as follows: 
A semicircle was to be drawn beginning at the Delaware 
River, with a radius of twelve miles and the center at New 
Castle; from a point in the middle of the peninsula, on a line 
directly west from Cape Henlopen, a tangent to this circle was 
to be drawn; from the point of tangency a line was to be run 
due north to a point fifteen miles south of the southern end of 
Philadelphia; from this point the line was to extend directly 
west five degrees. On account of disputes as to the method of 
locating the boundary, nothing was done until 1761, when 
Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon were appointed to survey 
the line. This was done from 1763 to 1767. On account of 
the Indians, Mason and Dixon's Line was surveyed only for a 
distance of 230 miles. The location of the remaining part of the 
southern boundary along the same parallel, 39 degrees 44 
minutes, to its western extremity was commenced by other 
surveyors in 1782. 




A large part of western and southwestern Pennsylvania was 
claimed by Virginia. The strife between the Virginians and 
Pennsylvania^ continued until 1779, when an agreement was 
reached by which the southern boundary was completed and 



PERIODS OF GOVERNMENT 1 7 

the western boundary surveyed along the meridian of 80 de- 
grees 32 minutes north to the Ohio River. In 1785, Virginia 
having ceded her western lands to the United States, Pennsyl- 
vania alone completed the boundary to Lake Erie. 

Connecticut, by virtue of her " sea to sea" charter,laid claim 
to that part of Pennsylvania north of 41 degrees. Settlers from 
both States entered this region and the frequent conflicts which 
took place between these two classes of colonists from 1769 to 
the Revolution is known as the "Pennamite and Yankee War." 
In 1782, a commission appointed by the Continental Congress 
met at Trenton and awarded the disputed territory to Penn- 
sylvania. 

The boundary between New York and Pennsylvania also 
was in dispute. In 1775, a stone was set up in the Delaware 
River, but the line afterwards run west from this stone ended 
south of Lake Erie. In 1789 the forty-second parallel was 
accepted as the boundary. 

Pennsylvania now had only about four miles of coast line on 
Lake Erie, so in 1792 the State bought the triangle at Lake Erie 
of the United States. 

In 1905 Pennsylvania agreed to give the "flat iron," as the 
small triangular piece of land between Pennsylvania and Dela- 
ware is called, to Delaware; but Delaware and Congress have 
not yet confirmed the transfer (191 1). 

The Seat of Government. Chester was the first capital 
of Pennsylvania. Here the first general assembly was held 
in 1682. In 1683 the capital was transferred to Philadel- 
phia. It was removed to Lancaster in 1799, and to Harris- 
burg in 1812. 

Periods and Forms of Government. The government 
of Pennsylvania may be divided into three periods: the first 
covering that period during which the southeastern part 
of the State with its scattered settlements and inhabitants 
was merely territory attached to some other colony; the 
second comprising the government of the Province of 



1 8 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Pennsylvania, under Penn and his heirs; the third includ- 
ing the government of Pennsylvania as a State. 

I. Colonial or Territorial Period — 1623-1681. 

1. First Period of Dutch Dominion — 1623-1638. 

i 1 . Proprietary, under the Dutch West India Com- 
pany, as part of New Netherlands. 

American affairs were directed by a Director until 
1626 and by a Governor after that date. Al- 
though the Dutch laid claim to this region since 
1609, it was without European government pre- 
vious to 1623. 

2. Period of Swedish Dominion — 1638-1655. 

i 1 . Proprietary, under Swedish West India Com- 
pany, as part of New Sweden. The government 
was directed by a Governor. 
Holland, Sweden and England claimed the territory 
along the Delaware, but during this period 
Sweden exercised the principal authority over 
the region now included in Pennsylvania. 

3. Second Period of Dutch Dominion — 1655-1664. 

i 1 . Proprietary, under Dutch West India Com- 
pany. 

4. First Period of English Dominion — 1664-1673. 

i 1 . Proprietary, under the Duke of York, as a 
Territory of New York. 
The government was administered by a Governor of 
New York and a separate Commander on the 
Delaware. 

5. Third Period of Dutch Dominion — 1673-1674. 

i 1 . Royal. 

The government was administered by a Governor 
of New Netherlands and a Deputy Governor of 
the Colonies on the West Side of the Delaware. 

6. Second Period of English Dominion — 1674-1776. 

i 1 . Proprietary, under the Duke of York, until 
granted to William Penn. 

II. Provincial Period — 1681-1776. 

1. Proprietary, under William Penn — 1681-1693. 

2. Royal — 1693-1695. 

Penn was suspected of disloyalty and Pennsyl- 



CONSTITUTIONS OF PENNSYLVANIA 1 9 

vania was taken from him, but after his 
innocence was proved he was restored to his 
rights. The government was directed by 
Governor Fletcher, of New York, with Wil- 
liam Markham as Deputy Governor. 
3. Proprietary. 

i 1 . Under William Penn — 1695-1718. 

2 1 . Under Penn's widow, Hannah Penn — 1718- 

1733- 
3 1 . Under Penn's sons, John (d. 1746), Thomas, 

and Richard (d. 1771) — 1733-1771. 

4 1 . Under Thomas Penn and John Penn, son of 
Richard Penn — 1 771-1776. 

During this period the government was adminis- 
tered by the proprietor as Governor or by a 
Deputy or Lieutenant-Governor together with a 
Provincial Council and a General Assembly. 

In June, 1775, the Assembly practically deposed 
John Penn as Governor by appointing a Council 
of Safety to supersede him and exercise the 
executive functions. Franklin was chairman of 
the Council. 
III. Constitutional Period — 

The Commonwealth — 1776 — . 

1. Under the Council of Safety — 177 6- 1777. 

2. Under the Constitution of 1776. 

3. Under the Constitution of 1790. 

4. Under the Constitution of 1838. 

5. Under the Constitution of 1873. 

Charters and Constitutions of Pennsylvania. I. What- 
ever government Pennsylvania had before it was granted 
to William Penn was administered mainly in accordance 
with the charter of the Dutch West India Company (162 1), 
the Articles of the Swedish West India Company (1625), 
and "The Duke's Laws" (1665). 

II. The Charter for the Province 0} Pennsylvania. 
This very liberal charter was granted by Charles II. to 
William Penn, March 4, 1681. It made William Penn 



20 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

and his heirs proprietors of the Province and gave them 
the right to make laws for the country "by and with the 
advice, assent, and approbation of the Freemen of the 
said Country, or the greater parte of them, or of their 
Delegates or Deputies" who were enjoined by the charter 
to meet in some form of assembly for this purpose. The 
laws had to be transmitted to England and could be de- 
clared void if found to be contrary to the allegiance due 
the king or inconsistent with his sovereignty. The charter 
also gave Penn the power to appoint judges and other 
officers. 

The annual rent to be paid by the proprietors of Pennsyl- 
vania was "Two Beaver Skins, to bee delivered at Our said 
Castle of Windsor on the First Day of January in every year; 
and also the Fifth Part of all Gold and Silver Oare, which shall 
from Time to Time happen to bee found within the Limitts 
aforesaid, cleare of all Charges." 

III. Concessions to the Province o) Pennsylvania. 
These were "Certain conditions, or concessions, agreed 
upon by William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of the 
province of Pennsylvania, and those who are the adven- 
turers and purchasers in the same province, the eleventh 
of July, one thousand six hundred and eighty-one." They 
were given to Markham and his colonists for their guid- 
ance until Penn's arrival. 

The Concessions provided for a jury of twelve men, six 
planters and six natives, to decide disputes between the settlers 
and the Indians. Another noteworthy article provides "That 
in clearing the ground, care be taken to leave one acre of trees 
for every jive acres cleared, especially to preserve oaks and mul- 
berries for silk and shipping." 

IV. The Frame of Government of the Province of 
Pennsylvania. The Frame, consisting of twenty-four arti- 



CONSTITUTIONS OF PENNSYLVANIA 21 

cles, was signed by William Penn on April 25, 1682, and 
on May 5 of the same year he added forty laws. Penn 
presented this plan of government, with ninety additional 
laws, to the General Assembly which met at Chester on 
December 6, 1682. These laws, ratified next day, formed 
the Great Law or Great Code of Pennsylvania, the basis 
of our present State government. No Provincial Council 
had yet been chosen. On April 2, 1683, the Frame of 
Government, with some alterations, together with sixty- 
one of Penn's proposed laws, was ratified by the Provincial 
Council and General Assembly which met in Philadelphia. 

The government of Pennsylvania under the frame was 
vested in the Proprietor, who was the Governor; in a Provin- 
cial Council of not less than eighteen nor more than seventy- 
two members, according to the population of the Province, 
elected for three years; and in a General Assembly of not less 
than thirty-six nor more than two hundred members, elected 
annually. The Governor or his deputy was presiding officer 
of the Council. 

It was the duty of the Governor and the Council to origi- 
nate bills and propose them to the Assembly, which bills were to 
be published and posted in prominent places twenty days before 
the Assembly met; to take care that the laws were executed; 
to provide for the peace and safety of the Province; to decide 
on the location of cities, market towns, and roads; to inspect 
the management of the public treasury; to establish schools; 
to encourage and reward authors and inventors; to establish 
courts; and to convene and adjourn the Assembly. 

The Assembly could not originate legislation but could 
simply vote upon the bills presented to it by the Council. The 
Council could nominate a " double number' ' of persons for 
judges, treasurers, and masters of the rolls, and the Assembly 
for sheriffs, justices of the peace, and coroners, out of which 
nominations the Governor was to make appointments. 

V. The Charter of Privileges jor Pennsylvania. This 
Charter was granted by William Penn, on the application 
of six-sevenths of the freemen, because the Frame of 1683 



22 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

was "found in some Parts of it, not so suitable to the pres- 
ent Circumstances of the Inhabitants.' ' It was ratified 
on October 28, 1701. The greater power of the Council 
in making laws had been a cause of strife between the 
Council and the Assembly. Under the new form of 
government the Assembly was allowed to propose legisla- 
tion and its powers were otherwise enlarged. The people 
also were allowed to elect some of the county officers. 
It was the most liberal government existing in the Colonies, 

VI. The Constitution 0} 1776. On May 15, 1776, 
the Continental Congress recommended the formation of 
State governments. The assembly of Pennsylvania, com- 
posed largely of royalists, ignored this recommendation, 
so the people called a provincial assembly of their own 
which met on June 18, 1776, and resolved that a constitu- 
tional convention should be called to form a State govern- 
ment. This convention met in Philadelphia on July 15, 
1776. It consisted of ninety-six delegates and chose 
Franklin president. The constitution was completed on 
September 28, 1776, and went into effect at once without 
ratification by the people. 

The convention assumed control of the State govern- 
ment and appointed a Council of Safety of which Ben- 
jamin Franklin was president. Franklin was therefore 
the first person to hold the highest executive office in 
Pennsylvania as a State. 

Under the first Constitution of Pennsylvania the legisla- 
ture consisted of only one house. The executive power was 
vested in a President and a Supreme Executive Council of 
twelve members which was advisory to the President. The 
President was chosen annually by the General Assembly and 
the Council. The constitution contained a Declaration of 
Rights of sixteen articles. It established courts in every 
county of the State. 



CONSTITUTIONS OF PENNSYLVANIA 23 

In 1780, the Assembly of Pennsylvania passed a bill pro- 
viding for the gradual abolition of slavery. By the operation 
of this law the State still had 3737 slaves in 1790 and only 67 
in 1830. 

VII. The Constitution 0} 1790. This constitution 
was framed by a convention of sixty-nine delegates, who 
met in Philadelphia on November 24, 1789, and chose 
Thomas Mifflin president. On February 26, 1790, the 
convention adjourned to give the people an opportunity 
to discuss what had been done. It reassembled on 
August 9, and proclaimed the new constitution on 
September 2, 1790. 

This constitution established a legislative body of two 
houses. The Executive Council was abolished and the execu- 
tive power was vested in a Governor chosen by the people for 
a term of three years. 

VIII. The Constitution of 1838. This constitution 
was framed by a convention of 133 members, who met 
at Harrisburg on May 2, 1837, but adjourned in Novem- 
ber to Philadelphia. John Sergeant was elected president. 
The constitution was adopted on February 22, 1838. 
It was ratified by the people at an election held October 
9, 1838 and went into effect on January 1, 1839. 

Among other changes the constitution of 1838 gave the 
legislature enlarged powers, made most of the offices elective, 
abolished life offices, and restricted the right to vote to all white 
freemen who had paid a state or county tax. As under previous 
constitutions, the legislature met annually. 

IX. The Constitution of 1873. This constitution was 
framed by a convention of 133 members, who met at 
Harrisburg on November 12, 1872, but adjourned on 
November 27 to meet in Philadelphia on January 7, 1873. 



24 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

William M. Meredith was chosen president. He died, 
and John H. Walker was chosen his successor. The 
constitution was completed on November 3, 1873. It 
was submitted to the voters and ratified on December 
16, 1873, an d went into effect on January 1, 1874. 

One of the chief reasons for framing a new constitu- 
tion was the necessity for prohibiting special legislation, 
particularly with reference to corporations. 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF 
PENNSYLVANIA 

PREAMBLE 

We, the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, grate- 
ful to Almighty God for his blessings of civil and religious 
liberty, and humbly invoking His guidance, do ordain and 
establish this Constitution. 

ARTICLE I. 

That the general, great and essential principles of liberty 
and free government may be recognized and unalterably es- 
tablished, we declare that — 

Section i. All men are born equally free and independent, 
and have certain inherent and indefeasible rights, among which 
are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquir- 
ing, possessing and protecting property and reputation, and of 
pursuing their own happiness. 

Sec. 2. All power is inherent in the people, and all free 
governments are founded on their authority and instituted for 
their peace, safety and happiness. For the advancement of 
these ends they have at all times an inalienable and indefea- 
sible right to alter, reform or abolish their government in 
such manner as they may think proper. 

Sec. 3. All men have a natural and indefeasible right to 
worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own 
consciences; no man can of right be compelled to attend, erect 
or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry 
against his consent ; no human authority can, in any case what- 
ever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience, and no 
preference shall ever be given by law to any religious establish- 
ments or modes of worship. 

Sec. 4. No person who acknowledges the being of a God 
and a future state of rewards and punishments shall, on account 
of his religious sentiments, be disqualified to hold any office or 
place of trust or profit under this Commonwealth. 

25 



26 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Sec. 5. Elections shall be free and equal; and no power, 
civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free 
exercise of the right of suffrage. 

Sec 6. Trial by jury shall be as heretofore, and the right 
thereof remain inviolate. 

Sec 7. The printing press shall be free to every person who 
may undertake to examine the proceedings of the legislature or 
any branch of government, and no law shall ever be made to re- 
strain the right thereof. The free communication of thoughts 
and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man, and every 
citizen may freely speak, write and print on any subject, being 
responsible for the abuse of that liberty. No conviction shall 
be had in any prosecution for the publication of papers relating 
to the official conduct of officers or men in public capacity, or 
to any other matter proper for public investigation or informa- 
tion, where the fact that such publication was not maliciously 
or negligently made shall be established to the satisfaction of 
the jury; and in all indictments for libels the jury shall have 
the right to determine the law and the facts under the direction 
of the court, as in other cases. 

Sec 8. The people shall be secure in their persons, houses, 
papers, and possessions, from unreasonable searches and 
seizures, and no warrant to search any place or to seize any per- 
son or things shall issue without describing them as nearly as 
may be, nor without probable cause, supported by oath or 
affirmation subscribed to by the affiant. 

Sec 9. In all criminal prosecutions the accused hath a right 
to be heard by himself and his counsel, to demand the nature 
and cause of the accusation against him, to meet the witnesses 
face to face, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses 
in his favor, and, in prosecutions by indictment or information, 
a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the vicinage; he 
cannot be compelled to give evidence against himself, nor can 
he be deprived of his life, liberty or property, unless by the 
judgment of his peers or the law of the land. 

Sec 10. No person shall, for any indictable offence, be pro- 
ceeded against criminally by information, except in cases arising 
in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual 
service, in time of war or public danger, or by leave of the court 
for oppression or misdemeanor in office. No person shall, for 
the same offence, be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor 
shall private property be taken or applied to public use, without 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 2 J 

authority of law and without just compensation being first made 
or secured. 

Sec. ii. All courts shall be open; and every man for an 
injury done him in his lands, goods, person or reputation shall 
have remedy by due course of law, and right and justice admin- 
istered without sale, denial or delay. Suits may be brought 
against the Commonwealth in such manner, in such courts, 
and in such cases as the legislature may by law direct. 

Sec. 12. No power of suspending laws shall be exercised 
unless by the legislature or by its authority. 

Sec. 13. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive 
fines imposed, nor cruel punishments inflicted. 

Sec. 14. All prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, 
unless for capital offences when the proof is evident or presump- 
tion great; and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall 
not be suspended, unless when in case of rebellion or invasion 
the public safety may require it. 

Sec. 15. No commission of Oyer and Terminer or Jail De- 
livery shall be issued. 

Sec. 16. The person of a debtor, where there is not strong 
presumption of fraud, shall not be continued in prison after de- 
livering up his estate for the benefit of his creditors in such 
manner as shall be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 17. No ex post facto law, nor any law impairing the ob- 
ligation of contracts, or making irrevocable any grant of special 
privileges or immunities, shall be passed. 

Sec. 18. No person shall be attainted of treason or felony 
by the legislature. 

Sec. 19. No attainder shall work corruption of blood, nor, 
except during the life of the offender, forfeiture of estate to the 
Commonwealth. The estate of such persons as shall destroy 
their own lives shall descend or vest as in cases of natural death, 
and if any person shall be killed by casualty there shall be no 
forfeiture by reason thereof. 

Sec. 20. The citizens have a right in a peaceable manner 
to assemble together for their common good, and to apply to 
those invested with the powers of government for redress of 
grievances or other proper purposes, by petition, address or 
remonstrance. 

Sec. 21. The right of the citizens to bear arms in defence of 
themselves and the State shall not be questioned. 

Sec. 22. No standing army shall, in time of peace, be kept 



28 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

up without the consent of the legislature, and the military shall 
in all cases and at all times be in strict subordination to the civil 
power. 

Sec. 23. No soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in 
any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war 
but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 24. The legislature shall not grant any title of nobility 
or hereditary distinction, nor create any office the appointment 
to which shall be for a longer term than during good behavior 

Sec. 25. Emigration from the State shall not be prohibited. 

Sec. 26. To guard against transgressions of the high powers 
which we have delegated, we declare that everything in this 
article is excepted out of the general powers of government and 
shall forever remain inviolate. 

ARTICLE II. 

Section i. The legislative power of this Commonwealth 
shall be vested in a General Assembly which shall consist of a 
Senate and a House of Representatives. 

Sec. 2. Members of the General Assembly shall be chosen 
at the general election every second year. Their term of ser- 
vice shall begin on the first day of December next after their 
election. Whenever a vacancy shall occur in either House, the 
presiding officer thereof shall issue a writ of election to fill such 
vacancy for the remainder of the term. 

Sec. 3. Senators shall be elected for the term of four years 
and Representatives for the term of tw T o years. 

Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall meet at twelve o'clock 
noon, on the first Tuesday of January every second year, and at 
other times when convened by the Governor, but shall hold no 
adjourned annual session after the year one thousand eight 
hundred and seventy-eight. In case of a vacancy in the office 
of United States Senator from this Commonwealth, in a recess 
between sessions, the Governor shall convene the two Houses 
by proclamation on notice not exceeding sixty days, to fill the 
same. 

Sec. 5. Senators shall be at least twenty-five years of age 
and Representatives twenty-one years of age. They shall have 
been citizens and inhabitants of the State four years, and in- 
habitants of their respective districts one year next before their 
election (unless absent on the public business of the United 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 29 

States or of this State) and shall reside in their respective dis- 
tricts during their terms of service. 

Sec. 6. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time 
for which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any civil 
office under this Commonwealth, and no member of Congress 
or other person holding any office (except of attorney -at-law or in 
the militia) under the United States or this Commonwealth shall 
be a member of either House during his continuance in office. 

Sec. 7. No person hereafter convicted of embezzlement of 
public moneys, bribery, perjury, or other infamous. crime, shall 
be eligible to the General Assembly, or capable of holding any 
office of trust or profit in this Commonwealth. 

Sec. 8. The members of the General Assembly shall re- 
ceive such salary and mileage for regular and special sessions 
as shall be fixed by law, and no other compensation whatever, 
whether for service upon committee or otherwise. No mem- 
ber of either House shall, during the term for which he may 
have been elected, receive any increase of salary, or mileage, 
under any law passed during such term. 

Sec. 9. The Senate shall, at the beginning and close of each 
regular session and at such other times as may be necessary, 
elect one of its members President pro tempore, who shall per- 
form the duties of the Lieutenant-Governor, in any case of ab- 
sence or disability of that officer, and whenever the said office 
of Lieutenant-Governor shall be vacant. The House of Repre- 
sentatives shall elect one of its members as Speaker. Each 
House shall choose its other officers, and shall judge of the 
election and qualifications of its members. 

Sec. 10. A majority of each House shall constitute a 
quorum, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day 
and compel the attendance of absent members. 

Sec. 11. Each House shall have power to determine the 
rules of its proceedings and punish its members or other persons 
for contempt or disorderly behavior in its presence, to enforce 
obedience to its process, to protect its members against violence 
or offers of bribes or private solicitation, and, with the concur- 
rence of two-thirds, to expel a member, but not a second time 
for the same cause, and shall have all other powers necessary 
for the legislature of a free State. A member expelled for cor- 
ruption shall not thereafter be eligible to either House, and 
punishment for contempt or disorderly behavior shall not bar 
an indictment for the same offence. 



30 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Sec. 12. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings 
and from time to time publish the same, except such parts as 
require secrecy, and the yeas and nays of the members on any 
question shall, at the desire of any two of them, be entered on 
the journal. 

Sec. 13. The sessions of each House and of Committees of 
the Whole shall be open, unless when the business is such as 
ought to be kept secret. 

Sec. 14. Neither House shall, without the consent of the 
other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place 
than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. 

Sec. 15. The members of the General Assembly shall in all 
cases, except treason, felony, violation of their oath of office, 
and breach or surety of the peace, be privileged from arrest 
during their attendance at the sessions of their respective 
Houses and in going to and returning from the same; and for 
any speech or debate in either House they shall not be ques- 
tioned in any other place. 

Sec. 16. The State shall be divided into fifty senatorial dis- 
tricts of compact and contiguous territory as nearly equal in popu- 
lation as may be, and each district shall be entitled to elect one 
Senator. Each county containing one or more ratios of popu- 
lation shall be entitled to one Senator for each ratio, and to an 
additional Senator for a surplus of population exceeding three- 
fifths of a ratio, but no county shall form a separate district un- 
less it shall contain four-fifths of a ratio, except where the ad- 
joining counties are each entitled to one or more Senators, when 
such county may be assigned a Senator on less than four-fifths 
and exceeding one-half of a ratio, and no county shall be di- 
vided unless entitled to two or more Senators. No city or county 
shall be entitled to separate representation exceeding one-sixth 
of the whole number of Senators. No ward, borough or town- 
ship shall be divided in the formation of a district. The 
senatorial ratio shall be ascertained by dividing the whole popu- 
lation of the State by the number fifty. 

Sec. 17. The members of the House of Representatives 
shall be apportioned among the several counties, on a ratio 
obtained by dividing the population of the State as ascertained 
by the most recent United States census by two hundred. Every 
county containing less than five ratios shall have one representa- 
tive for every full ratio, and an additional representative when 
the surplus exceeds half a ratio; but each county shall have at 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 3! 

least one representative. Every county containing five ratios or 
more shall have one representative for every full ratio. Every 
city containing a population equal to a ratio shall elect separately 
its proportion of the representatives allotted to the county in 
which it is located. Every city entitled to more than four 
representatives, and every county having over one hundred 
thousand inhabitants, shall be divided into districts of compact 
and contiguous territory, each district to elect its proportion of 
representatives according to its population, but no district shall 
elect more than four representatives. 

Sec. i 8. The General Assembly at its first session after the 
adoption of this Constitution, and immediately after each 
United States decennial census, shall apportion the State into 
senatorial and representative districts agreeably to the pro- 
visions of the two next preceding sections. 



ARTICLE III. 

Section i. No law shall be passed except by bill, and no 
bill shall be so altered or amended, on its passage through either 
House, as to change its original purpose. 

Sec. 2. No bill shall be considered, unless referred to a 
committee, returned therefrom, and printed for the use of the 
members. 

Sec. 3. No bill, except general appropriation bills, shall be 
passed containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly 
expressed in its title. 

Sec. 4. Every bill shall be read at length on three different 
days in each House; all amendments made thereto shall be 
printed for the use of the members before the final vote is taken 
on the bill, and no bill shall become a law, unless on its final 
passage the vote be taken by yeas and nays, the names of the 
persons voting for and against the same be entered on the 
journal, and a majority of the members elected to each House 
be recorded thereon as voting in its favor. 

Sec. 5. No amendment to bills by one House, shall be con- 
curred in by the other, except by the vote of a majority of the 
members elected thereto, taken by yeas and nays, and the 
names of those voting for and against recorded upon the journal 
thereof; and reports of committees of conference shall be 
adopted in either House only by the vote of a majority of the 



32 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

members elected thereto, taken by yeas and nays, and the names 
of those voting recorded upon the journals. 

Sec. 6. No law shall be revived, amended, or the provisions 
thereof extended or conferred, by reference to its title only, 
but so much thereof as is revived, amended, extended or con- 
ferred shall be re-enacted and published at length. 

Sec. 7. The General Assembly shall not pass any local or 
special law authorizing the creation, extension or impairing 
of liens: regulating the affairs of counties, cities, townships, 
wards, boroughs or school districts: changing the names of 
persons or places: changing the venue in civil or criminal 
cases: authorizing the laying out, opening, altering or main- 
taining, roads, highways, streets or alleys: relating to ferries 
or bridges, or incorporating ferry or bridge companies, except 
for the erection of bridges crossing streams which form boun- 
daries between this and any other State: vacating roads, town 
plats, streets or alleys: relating to cemeteries, grave-yards, or 
public grounds not of the State: authorizing the adoption or 
legitimation of children: locating or changing county seats, 
erecting new counties or changing county lines: incorporating 
cities, towns or villages, or changing their charters; for the 
opening and conducting of elections, or fixing or changing the 
place of voting: granting divorces: erecting new townships or 
boroughs, changing township lines, borough limits or school 
districts: creating offices, or prescribing the powers and duties 
of officers in counties, cities, boroughs, townships, election or 
school districts: changing the law of descent or succession: 
regulating the practice or jurisdiction of, or changing the rules 
of evidence in, any judicial proceeding or inquiry before courts, 
aldermen, justices of the peace, sheriffs, commissioners, arbi- 
trators, auditors, masters in chancery or other tribunals, or 
providing or changing methods for the collection of debts, or 
the enforcing of judgments, or prescribing the effect of judicial 
sales of real estate: regulating the fees, or extending the powers 
and duties of aldermen, justices of the peace, magistrates 
or constables: regulating the management of public schools, 
the building or repairing of school-houses and the raising of 
money for such purposes: fixing the rate of interest: affecting 
the estates of minors or persons under disability, except after 
due notice to all parties in interest, to be recited in the special 
enactment: remitting lines, penalties and forfeitures, or re- 
funding moneys legally paid into the treasury: exempting 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 33 

property from taxation: regulating labor, trade, mining or 
manufacturing: creating corporations, or amending, renewing 
or extending the charters thereof: granting to any corporation, 
association or individual any special or exclusive privilege or 
immunity, or to any corporation, association or individual the 
right to lay down a railroad track: nor shall the General 
Assembly indirectly enact such special or local law by the 
partial repeal of a general law; but laws repealing local or 
special acts may be passed : nor shall any law be passed grant- 
ing pow r ers or privileges in any case where the granting of such 
powers and privileges shall have been provided for by general 
law, nor where the courts have jurisdiction to grant the same 
or give the relief asked for. 

Sec. 8. No local or special bill shall be passed unless notice 
of the intention to apply therefore shall have been published in 
the locality where the matter or the thing to be effected may be 
situated, which notice shall be at least thirty days prior to the 
introduction into the General Assembly of such bill and in the 
manner to be provided by law; the evidence of such notice 
having been published, shall be exhibited in the General As- 
sembly before such act shall be passed. 

Sec. 9. The presiding officer of each House shall, in the 
presence of the House over which he presides, sign all bills and 
joint resolutions passed by the General Assembly, after their 
titles have been publicly read immediately before signing, and 
the fact of signing shall be entered on the journal. 

Sec. 10. The General Assembly shall prescribe by law the 
number, duties and compensation of the officers and employees 
of each House, and no payment shall be made from the State 
treasury, or be in any way authorized, to any person, except 
to an acting officer or employee elected or appointed in pur- 
suance of law. 

Sec. 11. No bill shall be passed giving any extra compensa- 
tion to any public officer, servant, employee, agent or contractor, 
after services shall have been rendered or contract made, nor 
providing for the payment of any claim against the Common- 
wealth without previous authority of law. 

Sec. 12. All stationery, printing, paper and fuel used in the 
legislative and other departments of government shall be 
furnished, and the printing, binding and distributing of the 
law r s, journals, department reports, and all other printing and 
binding, and the repairing and furnishing the halls and rooms 



34 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

used for the meetings of the General Assembly and its com- 
mittees, shall be performed under contract to be given to the 
lowest responsible bidder below such maximum price and under 
such regulations as shall be prescribed by law; no member 
or officer of any department of the government shall be in any 
way interested in such contracts, and all such contracts shall be 
subject to the approval of the Governor, Auditor-General and 
State Treasurer. 

Sec. 13. No law shall extend the term of any public officer, 
or increase or diminish his salary or emoluments, after his 
election or appointment. 

Sec. 14. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the 
House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose amend- 
ments as in other bills. 

Sec. 15. The general appropriation bill shall embrace noth- 
ing but appropriations for the ordinary expenses of the execu- 
tive, legislative and judicial departments of the Commonwealth, 
interest on the public debt and for public schools; all other 
appropriations shall be made by separate bills, each embracing 
but one subject. 

Sec. 16. No money shall be paid out of the treasury, except 
upon appropriations made by law, and on warrant drawn by 
the proper officer in pursuance thereof. 

Sec. 17. No appropriation shall be made to any charitable 
or educational institution not under the absolute control of the 
Commonwealth, other than normal schools established by law 
for the professional training of teachers for the public schools 
of the State, except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members 
elected to each House. 

Sec. 18. No appropriations, except for pensions or gratui- 
ties for military services, shall be made for charitable, educa- 
tional or benevolent purposes, to any person or community, nor 
to any denominational or sectarian institution, corporation or 
association. 

Sec. 19. The General Assembly may make appropriations 
of money to institutions wherein the widows of soldiers are sup- 
ported or assisted, or the orphans of soldiers are maintained 
and educated; but such appropriations shall be applied ex- 
clusively to the support of such widows and orphans. 

Sec. 20. The General Assembly shall not delegate to any 
special commission, private corporation or association, any 
power to make, supervise or interfere with any municipal 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 35 

improvement, money, property or effects, whether held in trust 
or otherwise, or to levy taxes or perform any municipal function 
whatever. 

Sec. 21. No act of the General Assembly shall limit the 
amount to be recovered for injuries resulting in death, or for 
injuries to persons or property, and, in case of death from such 
injuries, the right of action shall survive and the General As- 
sembly shall prescribe for whose benefit such actions shall be 
prosecuted. No act shall prescribe any limitations of time 
within which suits may be brought against corporations for 
injuries to persons or property, or for other causes different 
from those fixed by general laws regulating actions against 
natural persons, and such acts now existing are avoided. 

Sec. 22. No act of the General Assembly shall authorize 
the investment of trust funds by executors, administrators, 
guardians or other trustrees, in the bonds or stock of any private 
corporation, and such acts now existing are avoided saving 
investments heretofore made. 

Sec. 23. The power to change the venue in civil and 
criminal cases shall be vested in the courts, to be exercised in 
such manner as shall be provided by law. 

Sec. 24. No obligation or liability of any railroad or other 
corporation, held or owned by the Commonwealth, shall ever 
be exchanged, transferred, remitted, postponed or in any way 
diminished by the General Assembly, nor shall such liability 
or obligation be released, except by payment thereof into the 
State treasury. 

Sec. 25. When the General Assembly shall be convened in 
special session, there shall be no legislation upon subjects other 
than those designated in the proclamation of the Governor 
calling such session. 

Sec. 26. Every order, resolution or vote, to which the con- 
currence of both Houses may be necessary, except on the ques- 
tion of adjournment, shall be presented to the Governor and 
before it shall take effect be approved by him, or being dis- 
approved, shall be repassed by two-thirds of both Houses 
according to the rules and limitations prescribed in case of a bill. 

Sec. 27. No State office shall be continued or created for 
the inspection or measuring of any merchandise, manufacture 
or commodity, but any county or municipality may appoint 
such officers when authorized by law. 

Sec. 28. No law changing the location of the Capitol of the 



36 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

State shall be valid until the same shall have been submitted 
to the qualified electors of the Commonwealth at a general 
election and ratified and approved by them. 

Sec. 29. A member of the General Assembly who shall 
solicit, demand or receive, or consent to receive, directly or in- 
directly, for himself or for another, from any company, corpora- 
tion or person, any money, office, appointment, employment, 
testimonial, reward, thing of value or enjoyment, or of personal 
advantage, or promise thereof, for his vote or official influence, 
or for withholding the same, or with an understanding, ex- 
pressed or implied, that his vote or official action shall be in 
any way influenced thereby, or who shall solicit or demand 
any such money or other advantage, matter or thing aforesaid 
for another, as the consideration of his vote or official influence, 
or for withholding the same, or shall give or withhold his vote 
or influence in consideration of the payment or promise of such 
money, advantage, matter or thing to another, shall be held 
guilty of bribery within the meaning of this Constitution, and 
shall incur the disabilities provided thereby for said offence, 
and such additional punishment as is or shall be provided 
by law. 

Sec. 30. Any person who shall, directly or indirectly, offer, 
give or promise, any money, or thing of value, testimonial, 
privilege or personal advantage, to any executive or judicial 
officer, or member of the General Assembly, to influence him 
in the performance of any of his public or official duties, shall 
be guilty of bribery and be punished in such manner as shall 
be provided by law. 

Sec. 31. The offence of corrupt solicitation of members of 
the General Assembly or of public officers of the State or of any 
municipal division thereof, and any occupation or practice of 
solicitation of such members or officers to influence their official 
action, shall be defined by lav; and shall be punished by fine 
and imprisonment. 

Sec. 32. Any person may be compelled to testify in any 
lawful investigation or judicial proceeding against any person 
who may be charged with having committed the offence of 
bribery or corrupt solicitation, or practices of solicitation, and 
shall not be permitted to withhold his testimony upon the 
ground that it may criminate himself or subject him to public 
infamy; but such testimony shall not afterw ards be used against 
him in any judicial proceeding, except for perjury in giving such 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 37 

testimony, and any person convicted of either of the offences 
aforesaid, shall as part of the punishment therefor, be dis- 
qualified from holding any office or position of honor, trust or 
profit in this Commonwealth. 

Sec. 33. A member who has a personal or private interest in 
any measure or bill proposed or pending before the General 
Assembly shall disclose the fact to the House of which he is a 
member, and shall not vote thereon. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Section i. The executive department of this Common- 
wealth shall consist of a Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, 
Secretary of the Commonwealth, Attorney- General, Auditor- 
General, State Treasurer, Secretary of Internal Affairs and a 
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

Sec. 2. The supreme executive power shall be vested in the 
Governor, who shall take care that the laws be faithfully exe- 
cuted; he shall be chosen on the day of the general election, 
by the qualified electors of the Commonwealth, at the places 
where they shall vote for Representatives. The returns of 
every election for Governor shall be sealed up and transmitted 
to the seat of government, directed to the President of the 
Senate, who shall open and publish them in the presence of 
the members of both Houses of the General Assembly. The 
person having the highest number of votes shall be Governor, 
but if two or more be equal and highest in votes, one of them 
shall be chosen Governor by the joint vote of the members 
of both Houses. Contested elections shall be determined by a 
committee, to be selected from both Houses of the General As- 
sembly, and formed and regulated in such manner as shall be 
directed by law. 

Sec. 3. The Governor shall hold his office during four 
years from the third Tuesday of January next ensuing his elec- 
tion, and shall not be eligible for the office for the next succeed- 
ing term. 

Sec. 4. A Lieutenant-Governor shall be chosen at the same 
time, in the same manner, for the same term, and subject to the 
same provisions as the Governor; he shall be President of the 
Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided. 

Sec. 5. No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor 
or Lieutenant-Governor except a citizen of the United States, 



38 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

who shall have attained the age of thirty years, and have been 
seven years next preceding his election an inhabitant of the 
State, unless he shall have been absent on the public business 
of the United States or of this State. 

Sec. 6. No member of Congress or person holding any 
office under the United States or this State shall exercise the 
office of Governor or Lieutenant-Governor. 

Sec. 7. The Governor shall be commander-in-chief of the 
army and navy of the Commonwealth, and of the militia, except 
when they shall be called into the actual service of the United 
States. 

Sec. 8. {Amendment IV.) He shall nominate and, by and 
with the advice and consent of two-thirds of all the members 
of the Senate, aopoint a Secretary of the Commonwealth and an 
Attorney-General during pleasure, a Superintendent of Public 
Instruction for four years, and such other officers of the Com- 
monwealth as he is or may be authorized by the Constitution or 
by law to appoint; he shall have power to fill all vacancies 
that may happen, in offices to which he may appoint, during 
the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall 
expire at the end of their next session; he shall have power 
to fill any vacancy that may happen, during the recess of the 
Senate, in the office of Auditor- General, State Treasurer, 
Secretary of Internal Affairs or Superintendent of Public 
Instruction, in a judicial office, or in any other elective office 
which he is or may be authorized to fill; if the vacancy shall 
happen during the session of the Senate, the Governor shall 
nominate to the Senate, before their final adjournment, a 
proper person to fill said vacancy: but in any such case of 
vacancy, in an elective office, a person shall be chosen to said 
office on the next election day appropriate to such office accord- 
ing to the provisions of this Constitution, unless the vacancy 
shall happen within two calendar months immediately preced- 
ing such election day, in which case the election for said office 
shall be held on the second succeeding election day appropriate 
to such office. In acting on executive nominations the Senate 
shall sit with open doors, and, in confirming or rejecting the 
nominations of the Governor, the vote shall be taken by yeas 
and nays and shall be entered on the journal. 

Sec. 9. He shall have power to remit fines and forfeitures, 
to grant reprieves, commutations of sentence and pardons, 
except in cases of impeachment; but no pardon shall be 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 39 

granted, nor sentence commuted, except upon the recommenda- 
tion in writing of the Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of the 
Commonwealth, Attorney- General and Secretary of Internal 
Affairs, or any three of them, after full hearing, upon due 
public notice and in open session, and such recommendation, 
with the reasons therefor at length, shall be recorded and filed 
in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. 

Sec. 10. He may require information in writing from the 
officers of the executive department, upon any subject relating 
to the duties of their respective offices. 

Sec. 11. He shall, from time to time, give to the General 
Assembly information of the state of the Commonwealth, and 
recommend to their consideration such measures as he may 
judge expedient. 

Sec. 12. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the 
General Assembly, and in case of disagreement between the 
two Houses, with respect to the time of adjournment, adjourn 
them to such time as he shall think proper, not exceeding 
four months. He shall have power to convene the Senate in 
extraordinary session by proclamation for the transaction of 
executive business. 

Sec. 13. In case of the death, conviction on impeachment, 
failure to qualify, resignation or other disability of the Gov- 
ernor, the powers, duties and emoluments of the office for the 
remainder of the term, or until the disability be removed, shall 
devolve upon the Lieutenant-Governor. 

Sec. 14. In case of a vacancy in the office of the Lieutenant- 
Governor, or when the Lieutenant-Governor shall be impeached 
by the House of Representatives, or shall be unable to exercise 
the duties of his office, the powers, duties and emoluments 
thereof for the remainder of the term, or until the disability be 
removed, shall devolve upon the President pro tempore of the 
Senate; and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall in 
like manner become Governor if a vacancy or disability shall 
occur in the office of Governor; his seat as Senator shall be- 
come vacant whenever he shall become Governor, and shall be 
filled by election as any other vacancy in the Senate. 

Sec. 15. Every bill which shall have passed both Houses 
shall be presented to the Governor; if he approve he shall 
sign it, but if he shall not approve he shall return it with his 
objections to the House in which it shall have originated, which 
House shall enter the objections at large upon their journal, 



40 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, 
two-thirds of all the members elected to that House shall agree 
to pass the bill, it shall be sent with the objections to the other 
House by which likewise it shall be reconsidered, and if ap- 
proved by two-thirds of all the members elected to that House 
it shall be a law; but in such cases the votes of both Houses 
shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the 
members voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the 
journals of each House, respectively. IE any bill shall not be 
returned by the Governor within ten days after it shall have 
been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner 
as if he had signed it, unless the General Assembly, by their 
adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall be a 
law, unless he shall file the same, with his objections, in the 
office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and give notice 
thereof by public proclamation within thirty days after such 
adjournment. 

Sec. 16. The Governor shall have power to disapprove 
of any item or items of any bill, making appropriations of 
money, embracing distinct items, and the part or parts of the 
bill approved shall be the law, and the item or items of appro- 
priation disapproved shall be void, unless repassed according 
to the rules and limitations prescribed for the passage of other 
bills over the executive veto. 

Sec. 17. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall pre- 
side upon the trial of any contested election of Governor or 
Lieutenant-Governor and shall decide questions regarding 
the admissibility of evidence, and shall, upon request of the 
committee, pronounce his opinion upon other questions of 
law involved in the trial. The Governor and Lieutenant- 
Governor shall exercise the duties of their respective offices un- 
til their successors shall be duly qualified. 

Sec. 18. The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall keep 
a record of all official acts and proceedings of the Governor, 
and when required lay the same, with all papers, minutes and 
vouchers relating thereto, before either branch of the General 
Assembly, and perform such other duties as may be enjoined 
upon him by law. 

Sec. 19. The Secretary of Internal Affairs shall exercise all 
the powers and perform all the duties of the Surveyor- General, 
subject to such changes as shall be made by law. His depart- 
ment shall embrace a bureau of industrial statistics, and he 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 4 1 

shall discharge such duties relating to corporations, to the 
charitable institutions, the agricultural, manufacturing, mining, 
mineral, timber and other material or business interests of the 
State as may be prescribed by law. He shall annually, and at 
such other times as may be required by law make report to the 
General Assembly. 

Sec. 20. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall ex- 
ercise all the powers and perform all the duties of the Superin- 
tendent of Common Schools, subject to such changes as shall 
be made by law. 

Sec. 21. {Amendment V.) The terms of the Secretary of 
Internal Affairs, the Auditor-General, and the State Treasurer 
shall each be four years; and they shall be chosen by the quali- 
fied electors of the State at general elections; but a State 
Treasurer, elected in the year one thousand nine hundred and 
nine, shall serve for three years, and his successors shall be 
elected at the general election in the year one thousand nine 
hundred and twelve, and in every fourth year thereafter. No 
person elected to the office of Auditor-General or State Treas- 
urer shall be capable of holding the same office for two con- 
secutive terms. 

Sec. 22. The present Great Seal of Pennsylvania shall be 
the seal of the State. All commissions shall be in the name 
and by authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and 
be sealed with the State seal and signed by the Governor. 

ARTICLE V. 

Section i. The judicial power of this Commonwealth shall 
be vested in a Supreme Court, in courts of Common Pleas, courts 
of Oyer and Terminer and General Jail Delivery, courts of 
Quarter Sessions of the Peace, Orphans' Courts, Magistrates' 
Courts, and in such other courts as the General Assembly may 
from time to time establish. 

Sec. 2. The Supreme Court shall consist of seven judges, 
who shall be elected by the qualified electors of the State at 
large. They shall hold their offices for the term of twenty-one 
years, if they so long behave themselves well, but shall not be 
again eligible. The judge whose commission shall first expire 
shall be chief justice, and thereafter each judge whose com- 
mission shall first expire shall in turn be chief justice. 

Sec. 3. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court shall extend 



42 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

over the State, and the judges thereof shall, by virtue of their 
offices, be justices of Oyer and Terminer and General Jail 
Delivery in the several counties; they shall have original juris- 
diction in cases of injunction where a corporation is a party 
defendant, of habeas corpus, of mandamus to courts of inferior 
jurisdiction, and of quo warranto as to all officers of the Com- 
monwealth whose jurisdiction extends over the State, but shall 
not exercise any other original jurisdiction; they shall have 
appellate jurisdiction by appeal, certiorari or writ of error in all 
cases, as is now or may hereafter be provided by law. 

Sec. 4. Until otherwise directed by law, the courts of 
Common Pleas shall continue as at present established, except 
as herein changed; not more than four counties shall at any 
time be included in one judicial district organized for said 
courts. 

Sec. 5. Whenever a county shall contain forty thousand 
inhabitants it shall constitute a separate judicial district, and 
shall elect one judge learned in the law; and the General As- 
sembly shall provide for additional judges, as the business of 
the said districts may require. Counties containing a popu- 
lation less than is sufficient to constitute separate districts 
shall be formed into convenient single districts, or, if necessary, 
may be attached to contiguous districts as the General Assembly 
may provide. The office of associate judge, not learned in the 
law, is abolished in counties forming separate districts; but 
the several associate judges in office when this Constitution 
shall be adopted shall serve for their unexpired terms. 

Sec. 6. In the counties of Philadelphia and Allegheny all 
the jurisdiction and powers now vested in the District courts 
and courts of Common Pleas, subject to such changes as may 
be made by this Constitution or by law, shall be in Philadelphia 
vested in four, and in Allegheny in two, distinct and separate 
courts of equal and co-ordinate jurisdiction, composed of three 
judges each; the said courts in Philadelphia shall be desig- 
nated respectively as the court of Common Pleas number one, 
number two, number three and number four, and in Allegheny 
as the court of Common Pleas number one and number two, 
but the number of said courts may be by law increased, from 
time to time, and shall be in like manner designated by suc- 
cessive numbers; the number of judges in any of said courts, 
or in any county where the establishment of an additional 
court may be authorized by law, may be increased from time 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 43 

to time, and whenever such increase shall amount in the whole 
to three, such three judges shall compose a distinct and separate 
court as aforesaid, which shall be numbered as aforesaid. 
In Philadelphia all suits shall be instituted in the said courts 
of Common Pleas without designating the number of said court, 
and the several courts shall distribute and apportion the busi- 
ness among them in such manner as shall be provided by rules 
of court, and each court to which any suit shall thus be assigned, 
shall have exclusive jurisdiction thereof, subject to change of 
venue, as shall be provided by law. In Allegheny each court 
shall have exclusive jurisdiction of all proceedings at law and 
in equity, commenced therein, subject to change of venue as 
may be provided by law. 

Sec. 7. For Philadelphia there shall be one prothonotary \s 
office, and one prothonotary for all said courts to be appointed 
by the judges of said courts, and to hold office for three years, 
subject to removal by a majority of the said judges; the said 
prothonotary shall appoint such assistants as may be necessary 
and authorized by said courts; and he and his assistants shall 
receive fixed salaries, to be determined by law and paid by said 
county; all fees collected in said office, except such as may be 
by law due to the Commonwealth, shall be paid by the pro- 
thonotary into the county treasury. Each court shall have its 
separate dockets, except the judgment docket, which shall con- 
tain the judgments and liens of all the said courts, as is or may 
be directed by law. 

Sec. 8. The said courts in the counties of Philadelphia and 
Allegheny, respectively, shall, from time to time, in turn detail 
one or more of their judges to hold the courts of Oyer and 
Terminer and the courts of Quarter Sessions of the Peace of 
said counties, in such manner as may be directed by law. 

Sec. 9. Judges of the courts of Common Pleas learned in 
the law shall be judges of the courts of Oyer and Terminer, 
Quarter Sessions of the Peace and General Jail Delivery, and 
of the Orphans' Court, and within their respective districts 
shall be Justices of the Peace as to criminal matters. 

Sec. 10. The judges of the courts of Common Pleas within 
their respective counties shall have power to issue writs of 
certiorari to justices of the peace and other inferior courts not of 
record, and to cause their proceeding to be brought before 
them, and right and justice to be done. 

Sec. 11. (Amendment VI.) Except as otherwise provided 



44 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

in this Constitution, justices of the peace or aldermen shall be 
elected in the several wards, districts, boroughs or townships, 
by the qualified electors thereof, at the municipal election, in 
such manner as shall be directed by law, and shall be com- 
missioned by the Governor for a term of six years. No town- 
ship, ward, district or borough shall elect more than two justices 
of the peace or aldermen without the consent of a majority of 
the qualified electors within such township, ward or borough; 
no person shall be elected to such office unless he shall have 
resided within the township, borough, ward or district for 
one year next preceding his election. In cities containing over 
fifty thousand inhabitants, not more than one alderman shall 
be elected in each ward or district. 

Sec. 12. {Amendment VI 7.) In Philadelphia there shall 
be established, for each thirty thousand inhabitants, one court, 
not of record, of police and civil causes, with jurisdiction not 
exceeding one hundred dollars; such courts shall be held by 
magistrates w T hose terms of office shall be six years, and they 
shall be elected on general ticket at the municipal election, by 
the qualified voters at large; and in the election of the said 
magistrates no voter shall vote for more than two-thirds of the 
number of persons to be elected w r hen more than one are to be 
chosen; they shall be compensated only by fixed salaries, 
to be paid by said county; and shall exercise such jurisdiction, 
civil and criminal, except as herein provided, as is now exer- 
cised by aldermen, subject to such changes, not involving an 
increase of civil jurisdiction or conferring political duties, as 
may be made by lav/. In Philadelphia the office of alderman 
is abolished. 

Sec. 13. All fees, fines and penalties in said courts shall be 
paid into the county treasury. 

Sec. 14. In all cases of summary conviction in this Com- 
monwealth, or of judgment in suit for a penalty before a magis- 
trate, or court not of record, either party may appeal to such 
court of record as may be prescribed by law, upon allowance 
of the appellate court or judge thereof upon cause shown. 

Sec. 15 . All judges required to be learned in the law, except 
the judges of the Supreme Court, shall be elected by the quali- 
fied electors of the respective districts over which they are to 
preside, and shall hold their offices for the period of ten years, 
if they shall so long behave themselves well ; but for any reason- 
able cause, which shall not be sufficient ground for impeach- 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 45 

ment, the Governor may remove any of them on the address 
of two-thirds of each House of the General Assembly. 

Sec. i 6. Whenever two judges of the Supreme Court are 
to be chosen for the same term of sendee each voter shall vote 
for one only, and when three are to be chosen he shall vote for 
no more than two; candidates highest in vote shall be declared 
elected. 

Sec. 17. Should any two or more judges of the Supreme 
Court, or any two or more judges of the court of Common Pleas 
for the same district, be elected at the same time, they shall, as 
soon after the election as convenient, cast lots for priority of 
commission, and certify the result to the Governor, who shall 
issue their commissions in accordance therewith. 

Sec. iS. The judges of the Supreme Court and the judges 
of the several courts of Common Pleas, and all other judges 
required to be learned in the law. shall at stated times receive 
for their services an adequate compensation, which shall be 
fixed by law, and paid by the State. They shall receive no 
other compensation, fees or perquisites of office for their ser- 
vices from any source, nor hold any other office of profit under 
the United States, this State or any other State. 

Sec. 19. The judges of the Supreme Court, during their 
continuance in office, shall reside within this Commonwealth; 
and the other judges, during their continuance in office, shall 
reside within the districts for which they shall be respectively 
elected. 

Sec. 20. The several courts of Common Pleas, besides the 
powers herein conferred, shall have and exercise within their re- 
spective districts, subject to such changes as may be made by 
law, such chancery powers as are now vested by law in the 
several courts of Common Pleas of this Commonwealth, or as 
may hereafter be conferred upon them by law. 

.21. Xo duties shall be imposed by law upon the Su- 
preme Court or any of the judges thereof except such as are 
judicial, nor shall any of the judges thereof exercise any power 
of appointment except as herein provided. The court of Nisi 
Prius is hereby abolished, and no court of original jurisdiction 
to be presided over by any one or more of the judges of the 
Supreme Court shall be established. 

Sec. 22. In every county wherein the population shall ex- 
ceed one hundred and fifty thousand the General Assembly 
shall, and in any other county may, establish a separate Or- 



46 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

phans' Court to consist of one or more judges who shall be 
learned in the law, which court shall exercise all the jurisdiction 
and powers now vested in or which may hereafter be conferred 
upon the Orphans' courts, and thereupon the jurisdiction of 
the judges of the court of Common Pleas within such county, 
in Orphans' court proceedings, shall cease and determine. In 
any county in which a separate Orphans' Court shall be estab- 
lished, the register of wills shall be clerk of such court and sub- 
ject to its directions in all matters pertaining to his office; he 
may appoint assistant clerks, but only with the consent and 
approval of said court. All accounts filed with him as register 
or as clerk of the said separate Orphans' Court shall be audited 
by the court without expense to parties, except where all parties 
in interest in a pending proceeding shall nominate an auditor 
whom the court may, in its discretion, appoint. In every 
county Orphans' Courts shall possess all the powers and juris- 
diction of a Registers' court, and separate Registers' courts 
are hereby abolished. 

Sec. 23. The style of all process shall be "The Common- 
wealth of Pennsylvania." All prosecutions shall be carried 
on in the name and by the authority of the Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania, and conclude "against the peace and dignity of 
the same." 

Sec. 24. In all cases of felonious homicide, and in such 
other criminal cases as may be provided for by law, the accused 
after conviction and sentence may remove the indictment, 
record and all proceedings to the Supreme Court for review. 

Sec. 25. Any vacancy happening by death, resignation or 
otherwise, in any court of record, shall be filled by appoint- 
ment by the Governor, to continue till the first Monday of 
January next succeeding the first general election which 
shall occur three or more months after the happening of such 
vacancy. 

Sec. 26. All laws relating to courts shall be general and of 
uniform operation, and the organization, jurisdiction and 
powers of all courts of the same class or grade, so far as regu- 
lated by law, and the force and effect of the process and judg- 
ments of such courts, shall be uniform; and the General As- 
sembly is hereby prohibited from creating other courts to exer- 
cise the powers vested by this Constitution in the judges of the 
courts of Common Pleas and Orphans' courts. 

Sec 27. The parties, by agreement filed, may in any civil 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 47 

case dispense with trial by jury, and submit the decision of such 
case to the court having jurisdiction thereof, and such court 
shall hear and determine the same; and the judgment thereon 
shall be subject to writ of error as in other cases. 

ARTICLE VI. 

Section i. The House of Representatives shall have the 
sole power of impeachment. 

Sec. 2. All impeachment shall be tried by the Senate ; when 
sitting for that purpose the Senators shall be upon oath or 
affirmation; no person shall be convicted without the concur- 
rence of two-thirds of the members present. 

Sec. 3. The Governor and all other civil officers shall be 
liable to impeachment for any misdemeanor in office, but judg- 
ment in such cases shall not extend further than to removal 
from office and disqualification to hold any office of trust or 
profit under this Commonwealth; the person accused, whether 
convicted or acquitted, shall nevertheless be liable to indict- 
ment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law. 

Sec. 4. All officers shall hold their offices on the condition 
that they behave themselves well while in office, and shall be 
removed on conviction of misbehavior in office or of any in- 
famous crime. Appointed officers, other than judges of the 
courts of record and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
may be removed at the pleasure of the power by which they 
shall have been appointed. All officers elected by the people, 
except Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, members of the 
General Assembly and judges of the courts of record learned 
in the law, shall be removed by the Governor for reasonable 
cause, after due notice and full hearing, on the address of two- 
thirds of the Senate. 

ARTICLE VII. 

Section i. Senators and Representatives and all judicial, 
State and county officers shall, before entering on the duties of 
their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath 
or affirmation: 

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, obey 
and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Con- 
stitution of this Commonwealth, and that I will discharge the 
duties of my office with fidelity: that I have not paid or con- 



48 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

tributed, or promised to pay or contribute, either directly or 
indirectly, any money or other valuable thing, to procure my 
nomination or election (or appointment), except for necessary 
and proper expenses expressly authorized by law; that I have 
not knowingly violated any election law of this Commonwealth 
or procured it to be done by others in my behalf; that I will not 
knowingly receive, directly or indirectly, any money or other 
valuable thing for the performance or non-performance of any 
act or duty pertaining to my office, other than the compensation 
allowed by law." 

The foregoing oath shall be administered by some person 
authorized to administer oaths, and in case of State officers 
and judges of the Supreme Court, shall be filed in the office 
of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and in the case of 
other judicial and county officers, in the office of the pro- 
thonotary of the county in which the same is taken; any person 
refusing to take said oath or affirmation shall forfeit his office; 
and any person who shall be convicted of having sworn or 
affirmed falsely, or of having violated said oath or affirmation, 
shall be guilty of perjury, and be forever disqualified from hold- 
ing any office of frust or profit within this Commonwealth. 
The oath to the members of the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives shall be administered by one of the judges of the 
Supreme Court, or of a court of Common Pleas, learned in the 
law, in the hall of the House to which the members shall be 
elected. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

Section i. (Amendment I.) Every male citizen twenty- 
one years of age, possessing the following qualifications, shall 
be entitled to vote at all elections, subject however to such laws 
requiring and regulating the registration of electors as the 
General Assembly may enact: 

i. He shall have been a citizen of the United States at least 
one month. 

2. He shall have resided in the State one year (or, having 
previously been a qualified elector or native-born citizen of the 
State, he shall have removed therefrom and returned, then six 
months), immediately preceding the election. 

3. He shall have resided in the election district where he 
shall offer to vote at least two months immediately preceding 
the election. 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 49 

4. If twenty-two years of age and upwards, he shall have 
paid within two years a State or county tax, which shall have 
been assessed at least two months and paid at least one month 
before the election. 

Sec. 2 {Amendment VIII.) The general election shall be 
held biennially on the Tuesday next following the first Monday 
of November in each even-numbered year, but the General 
Assembly may by law fix a different day, two-thirds of all the 
members of each House consenting thereto: Provided, That 
such election shall always be held in an even-numbered year. 

Sec. 3 (.4 mendment IX.) All judges elected by the electors 
of the State at large may be elected at either a general or muni- 
cipal election as circumstances may require. All elections 
for judges of the courts for the several judicial districts, and for 
county, city, ward, borough, and township officers, for regular 
terms of service, shall be held on the municipal election day; 
namely, the Tuesday next following the first Monday of 
November in each odd-numbered year, but the General Assem- 
bly may by law fix a different day, two-thirds of all the 
members of each House consenting thereto: Provided, That 
such election shall always be held in an odd-numbered year. 

Sec. 4 (Amendment II.) All elections by the citizens shall 
be by ballot or by such other method as may be prescribed by 
law: Provided, That secrecy in voting be preserved. 

Sec. 5. Electors shall in all cases except treason, felony and 
breach or surety of the peace, be privileged from arrest during 
their attendance on elections and in going to and returning 
therefrom. 

Sec. 6. Whenever any of the qualified electors of this Com- 
monwealth shall be in actual military service, under a requisi- 
tion from the President of the United States, or by authority of 
this Commonwealth, such electors may exercise the right of 
suffrage in all elections by the citizens, under such regulations 
as are or shall be prescribed by law, as fully as if they were 
present at their usual places of election. 

Sec. 7. (Amendment III.) All laws regulating the holding 
of elections by the citizens or for the registration of electors 
shall be uniform throughout the State, but laws regulating and 
requiring the registration of electors may be enacted to apply 
to cities only: Provided, That such laws be uniform for cities 
of the same class. 

Sec. 8. Any person who shall give, or promise or offer to 



50 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

give, to an elector, any money, reward or other valuable con- 
sideration for his vote at an election, or for withholding the 
same, or who shall give or promise to give such consideration 
to any other person or party for such elector's vote or for the 
withholding thereof, and any elector who shall receive or agree 
to receive for himself or for another, any money, reward or other 
valuable consideration for his vote at an election, or for with- 
holding the same shall thereby forfeit the right to vote at such 
election, and any elector whose right to vote shall be challenged 
for such cause before the election officers shall be required to 
swear or affirm that the matter of the challenge is untrue be- 
fore his vote shall be received. 

Sec. 9. Any person who shall, while a candidate for office, 
be guilty of bribery, fraud, or wilful violation of any election 
law, shall be forever disqualified from holding an office of trust 
or profit in this Commonwealth; and any person convicted 
of wilful violation of the election laws shall, in addition to any 
penalties provided by law, be deprived of the right of suffrage 
absolutely for a term of four years. 

Sec. 10. In trials of contested elections and in proceedings 
for the investigation of elections, no person shall be permitted 
to withhold his testimony upon the ground that it may criminate 
himself or subject him to public infamy; but such testimony 
shall not afterwards be used against him in any judicial pro- 
ceeding except for perjury in giving such testimony. 

Sec. 11. Townships, and w T ards of cities or boroughs, shall 
form or be divided into election districts of compact and con- 
tiguous territory, in such manner as the court of Quarter Ses- 
sions of the city or county in which the same are located may 
direct; but districts in cities of over one thousand inhabitants 
shall be divided by the courts of Quarter Sesions, having 
jurisdiction therein, whenever at the next preceding election 
more than two hundred and fifty votes shall have been polled 
therein; and other election districts whenever the court of the 
proper county shall be of opinion that the convenience of 
the electors and the public interests will be promoted thereby. 

Sec. 12. All elections by persons in a representative 
capacity shall be viva voce. 

Sec 13. For the purpose of voting no person shall be 
deemed to have gained a residence by reason of his presence, or 
lost it by reason of his absence, while employed in the service, 
either civil or military, of this State or of the United States, nor 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION Jl 

while engaged in the navigation of the waters of the State or 
of the United States, or on the high seas, nor while a student 
of any institution of learning, nor while in any poorhouse or 
other asylum at public expense, nor while confined in public 
prison. 

Sec. 14. District election boards shall consist of a judge and 
two inspectors, who shall be chosen annually by the citizens. 
Each elector shall have the right to vote for the judge and one 
inspector, and each inspector shall appoint one clerk. The 
first election board for any new district shall be selected, and 
vacancies in election boards filled, as shall be provided by law. 
Election officers shall be privileged from arrest upon days of 
election, and while engaged in making up and transmitting 
returns, except upon warrant of a court of record or judge 
thereof, for an election fraud, for felony, or for wanton breach 
of the peace. In cities they may claim exemption from jury 
duty during their terms of service. 

Sec. 15. No person shall be qualified to serve as an election 
officer who shall hold, or shall within two months have held any 
office, appointment or employment in or under the government 
of the United States or of this State, or of any city, or county? 
or of any municipal board, commission or trust in any city,, 
save only justices of the peace and aldermen, notaries public 
and persons in the militia service of the State; nor shall any 
election officer be eligible to any civil office to be filled at an 
election at which he shall serve, save only to such subordinate 
municipal or local offices, below the grade of city or county 
offices, as shall be designated by general law. 

Sec. 16. The courts of Common Pleas of the several 
counties of the Commonwealth shall have power, within their 
respective jurisdictions, to appoint overseers of election to super- 
vise the proceedings of election officers, and to make report to 
the court as may be required; such appointments to be made 
for any district in a city or county upon petition of five citizens, 
lawful voters of such election district, setting forth that such 
appointment is a reasonable precaution to secure the purity 
and fairness of elections; overseers shall be two in number for 
an election district, shall be residents therein, and shall be per- 
sons qualified to serve upon election boards, and in each case 
members of different political parties; whenever the members 
of an election board shall differ in opinion the overseers, if they 
shall be agreed thereon, shall decide the question of difference; 



52 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

in appointing overseers of election all the law judges of the 
proper court, able to act at the time, shall concur in the ap- 
pointments made. 

Sec. 17. The trial and determination of contested elections 
of electors of President and Vice-President, members of the 
General Assembly, and of all public officers, whether State, 
judicial, municipal or local, shall be by the courts of law, or 
by one or more of the law judges thereof; the General Assem- 
bly shall, by general law, designate the courts and judges by 
whom the several classes of election contests shall be tried, 
and regulate the manner of trial and all matters incident thereto; 
but no such law assigning jurisdiction, or regulating its exercise, 
shall apply to any contest arising out of an election held before 
its passage. 

ARTICLE IX. 

Section i. All taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class 
of subjects, within the territorial limits of the authority levying 
the tax, and shall be levied and collected under the general laws; 
but the General Assembly may, by general laws, exempt from 
taxation public property used for public purposes, actual places 
of religious worship, places of burial not used or held for 
private or corporate profit, and institutions of purely public 
charity. 

Sec. 2. All laws exempting property from taxation, other 
than the property above enumerated, shall be void. 

Sec. 3. The power to tax corporations and corporate 
property shall not be surrendered or suspended by any contract 
or grant to which the State shall be a party. 

Sec. 4. No debt shall be created by or on behalf of the State 
except to supply casual deficiencies of revenue, repel invasion, 
suppress insurrection, defend .the State in war, or to pay exist- 
ing debt ; and the debt created to supply deficiencies in revenue 
shall never exceed, in the aggregate at any one time, one 
million dollars. 

Sec. 5. All laws authorizing the borrowing of money by and 
on behalf of the State, shall specify the purpose for which the 
money is to be used, and the money so borrowed shall be used 
for the purpose specified and no other. 

Sec 6. The credit of the Commonwealth shall not be 
pledged or loaned to any individual company, corporation or 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 53 

association, nor shall the Commonwealth become a joint-owner 
or stockholder in any company, association or corporation. 

Sec. 7. The General Assembly shall not authorize anv 
county, city, borough, township or incorporated district to be- 
come a stockholder in any company, association or corporation, 
or to obtain or appropriate money for, or to loan its credit to, 
any corporation, association, institution or individual. 

Sec. 8. The debt of any county, city, borough, township, 
school district or other municipality or incorporated district, 
except as herein provided, shall never exceed seven per centum 
upon the assessed value of the taxable property therein, nor 
shall any such municipality or district incur any new debt, or 
increase its indebtedness to an amount exceeding two per 
centum upon such assessed valuation of property, without 
the assent of the electors thereof at a public election in such 
manner as shall be provided by law; but any city, the debt of 
which now exceeds seven per centum of such assessed valua- 
tion, may be authorized by law to increase the same three per 
centum, in the aggregrate at any one time, upon such valuation. 

Sec. 9. The Commonwealth shall not assume the debt, 
or any part thereof, of any city, county, borough or township, 
unless such debt shall have been contracted to enable the State 
to repel invasion, suppress domestic insurrection, defend itself 
in time of war, or to assist the State in the discharge of any 
portion of its present indebtedness. 

Sec. 10. Any county, township, school district or other 
municipality, incurring any indebtedness shall, at or before 
the time of so doing, provide for the collection of an annual tax 
sufficient to pay the interest and also the principal thereof 
within thirty years. 

Sec. 11. To provide for the payment of the present State 
debt, and any additional debt contracted as aforesaid, the 
General Assembly shall continue and maintain the sinking 
fund, sufficient to pay the accruing interest on such debt, and 
annually to reduce the principal thereof by a sum not less than 
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; the said sinking fund 
shall consist of the proceeds of the sales of the public works or 
any part thereof, and of the income or proceeds of the sale of 
any stocks owned by the Commonwealth together with other 
funds and resources that may be designated by law, and shall 
be increased from time to time by assigning to it any part of 
the taxes or other revenues of the State not required for the 



54 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

ordinary and current expenses of government; and unless in 
case of war, invasion or insurrection, no part of the said sink- 
ing fund shall be used or applied otherwise than in the extin- 
guishment of the public debt. 

Sec. 12. The moneys of the State, over and above the neces- 
sary reserve, shall be used in the payment of the debt of the 
State, either directly or through the sinking fund, and the 
moneys of the sinking fund shall never be invested in or loaned 
upon the security of anything, except the bonds of the United 
States, or of this State. 

Sec. 13. The moneys held as necessary reserve shall be 
limited by law to the amount required for current expenses, 
and shall be secured and kept as may be provided by law. 
Monthly statements shall be published showing the amount of 
such moneys, where the same are deposited, and how secured. 

Sec. 14. The making of profit out of the public moneys, or 
using the same for any purpose not authorized by law by any 
officer of the State, or member or officer of the General Assem- 
bly, shall be a misdemeanor and shall be punished as may be 
provided by law, but part of such punishment shall be dis- 
qualification to hold office for a period of not less than five 
years. 

ARTICLE X. 

Section i. The General Assembly shall provide for the 
maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of 
public schools, wherein all the children of this Common- 
wealth above the age of six years may be educated, and shall 
appropriate at least one million dollars each year for that pur- 
pose. * 

Sec. 2. No money raised for the support of the public 
schools of the Commonwealth shall be appropriated or used 
for the support of any sectarian school. 

Sec. 3. Women twenty-one years of age and upwards, shall 
be eligible to any office of control or management under the 
school laws of this State. 

ARTICLE XI. 

Section i. The freemen of this Commonwealth shall be 
armed, organized and disciplined for its defence when and 
in such manner as may be directed by law. The General 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 55 

Assembly shall provide for maintaining the militia by appro- 
priations from the treasury of the Commonwealth, and may 
exempt from military service persons having conscientious 
scruples against bearing arms. 

ARTICLE XII. 

Section i. (Amendment X.) All officers whose selection is 
not provided for in this Constitution, shall be elected or ap- 
pointed as may be directed by law; Provided, That elections 
of State officers shall be held on a general election day, and 
elections of local officers shall be held on a municipal election 
day, except when, in either case, special elections may be re- 
quired to fill unexpired terms. 

Sec. 2. No member of Congress from this State, nor any 
person holding or exercising any office or appointment of trust 
01 profit under the United States, shall at the same time hold or 
exercise any office in this State to which a salary, fees or per- 
quisites shall be attached. The General Assembly may by 
law declare what offices are incompatible. 

Sec. 3. Any person who shall fight a duel or send a chal- 
lenge for that purpose, or be aider or abettor in fighting a duel, 
shall be deprived of the right of holding any office of honor or 
profit in this State, and may be otherwise punished as shall be 
prescribed by law. 

ARTICLE XIII. 

Section i . No new county shall be established which shall re- 
duce any county to less than four hundred square miles, or to 
less than twenty thousand inhabitants; nor shall any county 
be formed of less area, or containing a less population; nor 
shall any line thereof pass within ten miles of the county seat 
of any county proposed to be divided. 

ARTICLE XIV. 

Section i. County officers shall consist of sheriffs, coroners, 
prothonotaries, registers of wills, recorders of deeds, com- 
missioners, treasurers, surveyors, auditors or controllers, clerks 
of the courts, district attorneys and such others as may from 
time to time be established by law; and no sheriff or treasurer 
shall be eligible for the term next succeeding the one for which 
he may be elected. 



56 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Sec. 2. (Amendment XL) County officers shall be elected 
at the municipal elections and shall hold their offices for the 
term of four years, beginning on the first Monday of January 
next after their election, and until their successors shall be duly 
qualified; all vacancies, not otherwise provided for, shall be 
filled in such manner as may be provided by law. 

Sec. 3. No person shall be appointed to any office within 
any county, who shall not have been a citizen and an inhabitant 
therein one year next before his appointment, if the county 
shall have been so long erected, but if it shall not have been so 
long erected, then within the limits of the county or counties 
out of which it shall have been taken. 

Sec. 4. Prothonotaries, clerks of the courts, recorders of 
deeds, registers of w T ills, county surveyors and sheriffs, shall 
keep their offices in the county town of the county in which 
they respectively shall be officers. 

Sec. 5. The compensation of county officers shall be regu- 
lated by law, and all county officers who are or may be salaried 
shall pay all fees w T hich they may be authorized to receive, 
into the treasury of the county or State, as may be directed by 
law. In counties containing over one hundred and fifty 
thousand inhabitants all county officers shall be paid by salary, 
and the salary of any such officer and his clerks, heretofore 
paid by fees, shall not exceed the aggregate amount of fees 
earned during his term and collected by or for him. 

Sec. 6. The General Assembly shall provide by law for the 
strict accountability of all county, township and borough offi- 
cers, as well as for the fees which may be collected by them, 
as for all public or municipal moneys which may be paid to 
them. 

Sec. 7. (Amendment XII.) Three county commissioners 
and three county auditors shall be elected in each county where 
such officers are chosen, in the year one thousand nine hundred 
and eleven and every fourth year thereafter; and in the election 
of said officers each qualified elector shall vote for no more 
than two persons, and the three persons having the highest 
number of votes shall be elected; any casual vacancy in the 
office of county commissioner or county auditor shall be 
filled, by the court of Common Pleas of the county in which such 
vacancy shall occur, by the appointment of an elector of the 
proper county who shall have voted for the commissioner or 
auditor whose place is to be filled. 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 57 

ARTICLE XV. 

Section i. Cities may be chartered whenever a majority of 
the electors of any town or borough having a population of at 
least ten thousand shall vote at any general election in favor 
of the same. 

Sec. 2. No debt shall be contracted or liability incurred by 
any municipal commission, except in pursuance of an appro- 
priation previously made therefor by the municipal government. 

Sec. 3. Every city shall create a sinking fund, which shall 
be inviolably pledged for the payment of its funded debt. 

ARTICLE XVI. 

Section i. All existing charters, or grants of special or ex- 
clusive privileges, under which a bona fide organization shall 
not have taken place and business been commenced in good 
faith at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall 
thereafter have no validity. 

Sec. 2. The General Assembly shall not remit the forfeiture 
of the charter of any corporation now existing, or alter or amend 
the same, or pass any other general or special law for the bene- 
fit of such corporation, except upon the condition that such 
corporation shall thereafter hold its charter subject to the 
provisions of this Constitution. 

Sec. 3. The exercise of the right of eminent domain shall 
never be abridged or so construed as to prevent the General 
Assembly from taking the property and franchises of incor- 
porated companies, and subjecting them to public use, the same 
as the property of individuals; and the exercise of the police 
power of the State shall never be abridged or so construed as 
to permit corporations to conduct their business in such manner 
as to infringe the equal rights of individuals or the general 
well-being of the State. 

Sec. 4. In all elections for directors or managers of a cor- 
poration each member or shareholder may cast the whole num- 
ber of his votes for one candidate, or distribute them upon two 
or more candidates, as he may prefer. 

Sec. 5. No foreign corporation shall do any business in this 
State without having one or more known places of business and 
an authorized agent or agents in the same upon whom process 
may be served. 



58 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Sec. 6. No corporation shall engage in any business other 
than that expressly authorized in its charter, nor shall it take or 
hold any real estate except such as may be necessary and proper 
for its legitimate business. 

Sec. 7. No corporation shall issue stocks or bonds except 
for money, labor done, or money or property actually received; 
and all fictitious increase of stock or indebtedness shall be void. 
The stock and indebtedness of corporations shall not be in- 
creased except in pursuance of general law, nor without the 
consent of the persons holding the larger amount in value of 
the stock, first obtained at a meeting to be held after sixty days' 
notice given in pursuance of law. 

Sec. 8. Municipal and other corporations and individuals 
invested with the privilege of taking private property for public 
use shall make just compensations for property taken, injured 
or destroyed by the construction or enlargement of their works, 
highways or improvements, which compensation shall be paid 
or secured before such taking, injury or destruction. The 
General Assembly is hereby prohibited from depriving any per- 
son of an appeal from any preliminary assessment of damages 
against any such corporations or individuals made by viewers 
or otherwise ; and the amount of such damages in all cases of 
appeal shall on the demand of either party be determined by 
jury according to the course of the common law. 

Sec. 9. Every banking law shall provide for the register 
and countersigning, by an officer of the State, of all notes or 
bills designed for circulation, and that ample security to the 
full amount thereof shall be deposited with the Auditor- General 
for the redemption of such notes or bills. 

Sec. 10. The General Assembly shall have the power to 
alter, revoke or annul any charter of incorporation now existing 
and revocable at the adoption of this Constitution, or any that 
may hereafter be created, whenever in their opinion it may be 
injurious to the citizens of this Commonwealth, in such man- 
ner, however, that no injustice shall be done to the corporators. 
No law hereafter enacted shall create, renew or extend the 
charter of more than one corporation. 

Sec. 11. No corporate body to possess banking and dis- 
counting privileges shall be created or organized in pursuance 
of any law without three months' previous public notice, at the 
place of the intended location, of the intention to apply for such 
privileges, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law, nor 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 59 

shall a charter for such privilege be granted for a longer period 
than twenty years. 

Sec. 12. Any association or corporation organized for the 
purpose, or any individual, shall have the right to construct and 
maintain lines of telegraph within this State, and to connect the 
same with other lines, and the General Assembly shall, by 
general law of uniform operation, provide reasonable regula- 
tions to give full effect to this section. No telegraph company 
shall consolidate with, or hold a controlling interest in the stock 
or bonds of, any other telegraph company owning a competing 
line, or acquire, by purchase or otherwise, any other competing 
line of telegraph. 

Sec. 13. The term " corporations," as used in this article, 
shall be construed to include all joint-stock companies or asso- 
ciations having any of the powers or privileges of corporations 
not possessed by individuals or partnerships. 

ARTICLE XVII. 

Section i. All railroads and canals shall be public high- 
ways, and all railroad and canal companies shall be common 
carriers. Any association or corporation organized for the 
purpose shall have the right to construct and operate a railroad 
between any points within this State, and to connect at the State 
line with railroads of other States. Every railroad company 
shall have the right with its road to intersect, connect with or 
cross any other railroad; and shall receive and transport each 
the others passengers, tonnage, and cars loaded or empty, 
without delay or discrimination. 

Sec. 2. Every railroad and canal corporation organized in 
this State shall maintain an office therein where transfers of its 
stock shall be made, and where its books shall be kept for in- 
spection by any stockholder or creditor of such corporation, in 
which shall be recorded the amount of capital stock subscribed 
or paid in, and by whom, the names of the ow T ners of its stock 
and the amounts owned by them, respectively, the transfers 
of said stock, and the names and places of residence of its 
officers. 

Sec. 3. All individuals, associations and corporations shall 
have equal right to have persons and property transported over 
railroads and canals, and no undue or unreasonable discrimina- 
tion shall be made in charges for, or in facilities for,transporta- 



60 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

tion of freight or passengers within the State or coming from 
or going to any other State. Persons and property transported 
over any railroad shall be delivered at any station at charges 
not exceeding the charges for transportation of persons and 
property of the same class in the same direction to any more 
distant station; but excursion and commutation tickets 
may be issued at special rates. 

Sec. 4. No railroad, canal or other corporation, or the 
lessees, purchasers or managers of any railroad or canal cor- 
poration, shall consolidate the stock, property or franchises of 
such corporation with, or lease, or purchase the works or fran- 
chises of, or in any way control any other railroad or canal 
corporation owning or having under its control a parallel or 
competing line; nor shall any officer of such railroad or canal 
corporation act as an officer of any other railroad or canal 
corporation owning or having the control of a parallel or com- 
peting line; and the question whether railroads or canals are 
parallel or competing lines shall, when demanded by the party 
complainant, be decided by a jury as in other civil issues. 

Sec. 5. No incorporated company doing the business of a 
common carrier shall, directly or indirectly, prosecute or engage 
in mining or manufacturing articles for transportation over its 
works; nor shall such company, directly or indirectly, engage 
in any other business than that of common carriers, or hold or 
acquire lands, freehold or leasehold, directly or indirectly, ex- 
cept such as shall be necessary for carrying on its business; but 
any mining or manufacturing company may carry the products 
of its mines and manufactories on its railroad or canal not ex- 
ceeding fifty miles in length. 

Sec. 6. No president, director, officer, agent or employee 
of any railroad or canal company shall be interested directly 
or indirectly, in the furnishing of material or supplies to such 
company, or in the business of transportation as a common 
carrier of freight or passengers over the works owned, leased, 
controlled or worked by such company. 

Sec. 7. No discrimination in charges or facilities for trans- 
portation shall be made between transportation companies and 
individuals, or in favor of either, by abatement, drawback or 
otherwise, and no railroad or canal company, or any lessee, 
manager or employee thereof, shall make any preferences in 
furnishing cars or motive power. 

Sec 8. No railroad, railway or other transportation com- 



THE STATE CONSTITUTION 6 1 

pany shall grant free passes, or passes at a discount, to any per- 
son except officers or employees of the company. 

Sec. 9. No street passenger railway shall be constructed 
within the limits of any city, borough or township, without 
the consent of its local authorities. 

Sec. 10. No railroad, canal or other transportation com- 
pany, in existence at the time of the adoption of this article, 
shall have the benefit of any future legislation by general or 
special laws, except on condition of complete acceptance of all 
the provisions of this article. 

Sec. 11. The existing powers and duties of the Auditor- 
General in regard to railroads, canals and other transportation 
companies, except as to their accounts, are hereby transferred 
to the Secretary of Internal Affairs, who shall have a general 
supervision over them, subject to such regulations and altera- 
tions as shall be provided by law; and, in addition to the an- 
nual reports now required to be made, said Secretary may re- 
quire special reports at any time upon any subject relating to 
the business of said companies from any officer or officers 
thereof. 

Sec. 12. The General Assembly shall enforce by appro- 
priate legislation the provisions of this article. 

ARTICLE XVIII. 

Section i. Any amendment or amendments to this Con- 
stitution may be proposed in the Senate or House of Repre- 
sentatives, and, if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of 
the members elected to each House, such proposed amend- 
ment or amendments shall be entered on their journals with 
the yeas and nays taken thereon, and the Secretary of the 
Commonwealth shall cause the same to be published three 
months before the next general election, in at least two 
newspapers in every county in which such newspapers shall 
be published; and if, in the General Assembly next after- 
wards chosen, such proposed amendment or amendments 
shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected 
to each House, the Secretary of the Commonwealth shall 
cause the same again to be published in the manner afore- 
said; and such proposed amendment or amendments shall be 
submitted to the qualified electors of the State in such manner, 
and at such time at least three months after being so agreed 



62 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

to by the two Houses, as the General Assembly shall prescribe; 
and, if such amendment or amendments shall be approved by 
a majority of those voting thereon, such amendment or amend- 
ments shall become a part of the Constitution; but no amend- 
ment or amendments shall be submitted oftener than once in 
five years. When two or more amendments shall be sub' 
mitted they shall be voted upon separately. 



THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 
UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1873 

The State Constitution. The State Constitution is 
longer, more complex, and enters more into details than 
the Constitution of the United States. It embraces much 
that might ordinarily be covered by legislation but which 
it was deemed best to embody in the Constitution as a safe- 
guard against undesirable or corrupt laws on these subjects. 
In some respects it is more stringent than the United States 
Constitution, as, for example, in the passing of bills and the 
appointment of officers. 

The Preamble of the Constitution states that the gov- 
ernment of the State, like that of the United States, is a 
government established by the people. It contains also the 
ordaining and establishing clause of the Constitution. 



ARTICLE I. 

The Declaration of Rights. 

The Preamble to this declaration of rights states the 
object to be to secure the recognition and establishment of 
the general, great, and essential principles of liberty and 
free government; and Section 26 declares that everything 
contained in the article is excepted from the powers of the 
government to guard against transgressions or misuse of 
the powers delegated by the people through the Constitution 
to the general government. 

In what other state paper is the same principle declared 
as that expressed in Section 1 ? 

63 



64 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

In what other state papers are ideas expressed similar 
to those found in Section 2 ? 

How do the statements in the State Constitution con- 
cerning religion differ from those in the United States 
Constitution ? 

" Elections shall be free and equal" does not mean that 
everybody may vote, but that any person with the proper 
qualifications has the right to vote without interference and 
that the qualifications for voting shall be uniform. 

The greater number of rights mentioned in this declaration 
are such rights as are found in the first ten amendments, Sections 
9 and 10 of Article I, and other parts of the United States Con- 
stitution. An extended discussion of the rights reserved in this 
declaration would require too much space. Each student 
should be required to compile a brief but systematic statement 
or digest of the rights guaranteed in this article. 

ARTICLE II. 
The State Legislature. 

The General Assembly. The power to make laws 
for the State is vested in a Legislature of the State called the 
General Assembly. The General Assembly is therefore 
the law-making body of the State. It is a bicameral body 
and consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. 
Articles II and III treat of the Legislative Department of 
the State. 

The Members of the General Assembly. Term. The 
term of Representatives is two years and of Senators four 
years. The terms of both Representatives and Senators 
begin on the first day of December following the election. 

Election. Representatives and Senators are elected by 
the voters of the State on General Election Day, the first 
Tuesday after the first Monday in November, in an even 



APPORTIONMENT OF REPRESENTATIVES 65 

year. On this day the voters go to the common voting 
places and vote by ballot for as many of the candidates as 
the county or district is entitled to elect; and the persons 
receiving the highest numbers of votes stand elected. Rep- 
resentatives are elected in even years and Senators are 
elected in leap years in the odd-numbered districts and in 
the even years between the leap years in the even-numbered 
districts. The certificates of election are signed respect- 
ively by the Speaker of the House and the President 
pro tempore of the Senate. 

Classification 0] Senators. In Section 2 it is stated that 
members of the General Assembly shall be chosen every 
second year; and in Section 3 the Senators' term is fixed at 
four years. This arrangement divides the Senators into two 
classes, one half to be chosen every second year. At least 
one half of the Senators therefore are experienced members. 

The first election under the Constitution of 1873 took place 
in 1876, when Senators from the even-numbered districts were 
elected for two years and from the odd-numbered districts for 
four years. 

Apportionment and Number of Representatives. Rep- 
resentatives are apportioned among the counties according 
to their population. The ratio of apportionment is obtained 
by dividing the population of the State as ascertained by 
the latest United States census by the number 200. This 
ratio of apportionment is then divided into the population 
of each county to determine the number of Representatives 
for the county. Each county shall have at least one Rep- 
resentative. 

Each county containing less than five ratios shall have one 
Representative for every full ratio and an additional Repre- 
sentative if the surplus is more than half a ratio. If a county 
contains five or more ratios of representation it shall have one 
Representative only for every full ratio. If a city contains a 



66 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

population equal to one or more ratios, it shall elect separately 
its proportional part of the Representatives allotted to the 
county in which the city is situated. 

Primarily a county is a representative district, but cities 
entitled to more than four Representatives and counties with 
more than 100,000 inhabitants shall be divided into districts 
of compact and contiguous territory and each such district shall 
elect its proportionate share of Representatives; but no dis- 
trict may elect more than four Representatives. It is the duty 
of the General Assembly to apportion the State into Repre- 
sentative districts after each census. 

By the Representative Apportionment Act passed by 
the special session of the General Assembly in 1906, the 
House of Representatives consists of 207 members. 

My county has State Representatives. 

Apportionment and Number of Senators. For the ap- 
portionment of Senators the State is divided into 50 sena- 
torial districts and each district shall elect one Senator. 
These districts must be of compact and contiguous ter- 
ritory and the population of each district must be as nearly 
equal as possible to the senatorial ratio of apportionment. 
This ratio of apportionment is obtained by dividing the 
population of the State by 50. 

No county shall form a separate senatorial district unless 
its population is equal to four-fifths of a ratio except when each 
of the adjoining counties is entitled to one or more Senators. 
In this case a Senator may be assigned to a county if its popu- 
lation exceeds half a ratio. Each county containing one or 
more ratios shall have one Senator for every full ratio and an 
additional Senator if the surplus exceeds three-fifths of a ratio. 

It is the duty of the General Assembly to apportion the 
State into senatorial districts after each census. These dis- 
tricts are numbered. The Constitution states that no county 
shall be divided unless it is entitled to two or more Senators, 
and no ward, borough, or township shall be divided in the 
formation of a district; but by the Senatorial Apportionment 
Act of 1906 the General Assembly defied the Constitution by 



VACANCIES 67 

attaching a part of one county to another county to form a 
senatorial district. 

The number of Senators from a single city or county may 
never be more than one-sixth of the whole number of Senators 
in the State. 

The Senate of Pennsylvania is composed of 50 Senators. 

Qualifications. Representatives must be at least 21 
years of age and Senators at least 25 years of age. 

Both Senators and Representatives must have been citi- 
zens and inhabitants of the State for four years next pre- 
ceding their election. 

Senators and Representatives must have been inhabi- 
tants of their respective districts for one year next preceding 
their election and they must reside in their respective dis- 
tricts during their terms of service. 

In Section 6, Section 7, and the last sentence of Section 
11, three disqualifications of members of the General As- 
sembly are mentioned. Removal from the district would 
also disqualify a member for continuing to serve in the 
General Assembly. 

Vacancies. Whenever a vacancy occurs in either house 
of the General Assembly, the presiding officer of the house 
issues a writ of election to fill the vacancy for the remainder 
of the term. The writ or order to hold the special election 
is directed by the speaker of the House or the President 
of the Senate to the sheriff of the proper county. 

If the vacancy happens during the recess of the General As- 
sembly it is not filled until the next general election unless the 
General Assembly meets before the time for the general elec- 
tion. If the vacancy happens during the session of the General 
Assembly, or if it happens during the recess, and the General 
Assembly must meet either in regular or special session before 
the time for the next general election, the presiding officer of 
the house must issue a writ for a special election to be held 
within thirty days after the happening of the vacancy. 



68 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Salary. Senators and Representatives each receive the 
following compensation: 

i . For a regular session, $i 500 ; for a special or extra- 
ordinary session, $500. The President pro tempore of the 
Senate and the Speaker of the House each receive $1 per 
day during every session in addition to the regular salaries. 

2. Mileage to and from every session at the rate of 20 
cents a mile. 

3. For a regular session, $50 for stationery and $100 
for postage. For a special session a reasonable amount is 
allowed for stationery and postage. 

No member of the General Assembly shall receive any 
other compensation; and he shall receive no increase of 
pay or mileage during his term under any law passed during 
the term for which he was elected. 

Peculiar Privileges. Members of the General Assem- 
bly have two special privileges : 

1. While going to, attending, or returning from the 
sessions of the General Assembly they can not be arrested 
for anything except treason, felony, violation of their oath 
of office, and breach or surety of the peace. 

2. For any speech or debate made in either house they 
shall not be questioned in any other place — that is, they 
may be called to order in the house but may not be ques- 
tioned before a court or arrested for slander for anything 
they may say in a speech or debate during discussions in 
the house to which they belong. 

Officers of the General Assembly. The Lieutenant- 
Governor is the presiding officer of the Senate and as 
such is called the President 0} the Senate, He has no 
vote unless there is a tie. At the beginning and the 
close of each regular session the Senators elect one of 
their number President pro tempore of the Senate, who 
shall take the place of the Lieutenant-Governor at the 



MEETINGS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 69 

head of the Senate whenever he is absent or unable to 
attend to his duties or when his office is vacant. 

The presiding officer of the House of Representatives 
is called the Speaker. He is himself a Representative and 
is elected by the Representatives at the opening of the ses- 
sion. He votes on all questions. 

Each house elects a Chief Clerk and a number of other 
clerks. Other important officers elected by each house are 
the Sergeant-at-arms, the Doorkeeper, the Postmaster, and 
the Chaplain. The officers of the General Assembly are 
elected by viva voce vote. 

The duties of these officers are similar to the duties of 
the corresponding officers of the Congress of the United 
States. 

Meetings of the General Assembly. Regular Sessions. 
The General Assembly meets every second year, at 12 
o'clock noon, on the first Tuesday of January. Its regu- 
lar sessions are therefore biennial sessions and are held in 
the odd years. The sessions continue until the business is 
finished, and usually lasts from three to five months. 

A quorum in each house consists of a majority of the 
members. The regular sessions are numbered from the 
first meeting under the Constitution of 1776. Session 
number I met on November 28, 1776. The session which 
met on January 5, 1909, was number CXVIII. 

On the day on which the General Assembly meets, the first 
action taken by each house is the organization of the house. 

In the House of Representatives, at n o'clock a.m., one of 
the members oldest in service in the House announces from the 
Speaker's stand that the House of Representatives will meet at 
12 o'clock for organization. At 12 o'clock the Clerk of the last 
House, having ascertained that a quorum is present, calls the 
House to order. The Secretary of the Commonwealth then 
hands the Clerk the returns of the election, these returns are 
read, and the roll is called by the Clerk. The oath is then ad- 



70 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

ministered to the members by some judge. The election of a 
Speaker is next conducted by the Clerk. After the election 
of a Speaker, the Chief Clerk and then the other officers are 
elected. The organization is completed on some future day 
by the appointment of committees. 

In the Senate, at 12 o'clock, the Senate is called to order by 
the President. The Secretary of the Commonwealth presents 
the returns of the election, the returns are read, and the roll is 
called. The oath is then administered to the newly elected 
members. A President pro tempore is next elected. After 
his election other officers of the Senate are elected. Committees 
are also appointed at some future time. 

Officers and employees of both houses of the General 
Assembly return to the next biennial session to serve until their 
successors are chosen. 



Special Sessions. Special sessions of the General As- 
sembly may be convened by the Governor when he thinks 
it necessary to do so. The Senate may be called alone in 
extra session, by the Governor, to attend to business which 
it transacts jointly with the Governor. Special sessions are 
not numbered with the regular sessions. 

In a special session no laws shall be passed on any sub- 
jects except those designated by the Governor in his procla- 
mation calling the special session. 

Adjournment. The adjournment of the General 
Assembly may depend upon the following conditions : 

1. There may be no further business on hand and the 
two houses then agree upon a day on which they will ad- 
journ. 

2. If the two houses cannot agree upon a day of ad- 
journment, the Governor may adjourn them to such time 
as he shall think proper, not exceeding four months. 

3. No session can extend beyond the time for the meet- 
ing of the next regular session. 

4. Neither house shall adjourn for more than three 
days without the consent of the other nor may it adjourn 



POWERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 71 

to any other place except that in which both houses are in 
session. 

Powers of the General Assembly. Sole Powers. The 
House of Representatives has two sole powers: 

1 . The sole power of impeachment . 

2. The sole power to originate bills for raising revenue. 
The Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments. 

Common Powers. The houses of the General Assembly 
have the following common powers : 

1 . To choose their officers. 

2. To judge of the election and qualifications of their 
members; that is, to decide whether the members are 
legally elected and properly qualified. 

Contested elections shall be tried and determined by the 
court of common pleas of the county in which the person re- 
turned as elected resides, on the petition of at least twenty per- 
sons of the county, in case of a Representative, and of the 
senatorial district, in case of a Senator; but the person against 
whom the decision of the court is given may afterwards present 
a similar petition to the proper house of the General Assembly. 
This petition is referred to the committee on elections, which 
hears the claims of the parties to the contest (the contestant 
and the respondent) and reports to the house. The house 
votes on the report and passes a resolution deciding which per- 
son is entitled to the seat in the General Assembly. 

3. To determine the rules of their proceedings. 

4. To punish their members or other persons for con- 
tempt or disorderly behavior in their presence. 

5. To expel a member, with the concurrence of two- 
thirds. No member can be expelled a second time for the 
same cause — since his reelection would show that the 
people indorse his action. 

6. To enforce obedience to their process. 



72 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

7. To protect their members against violence, bribery, 
and corruption. 

8. To have all other powers necessary for the legisla- 
ture of a free State. 

9. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings 
and shall publish the same except such parts as require 
secrecy. 

Joint Powers. The principal joint power of the General 
Assembly is the power to make laws. It can make laws on 
a variety of subjects as large or perhaps larger than that 
on which the Congress of the United States can legislate, 
and is limited in its legislation only by the provisions and 
prohibitions of the Constitution and laws of the United 
States and of the Constitution of the State. 

Among the joint powers or duties of the General As- 
sembly which are exercised by passing laws are the follow- 
ing: 

1. To raise revenue for public expenses. 

2. To make appropriations for various purposes. 

3. To divide the State into representative, senatorial, 
and judicial districts. 

4. To establish courts other than those mentioned in 
the Constitution. 

5. To fix the salaries of members of the General As- 
sembly, prescribe the duties and compensation of State, 
county, township, borough, and city officers, and provide 
additional officers when necessary. 

6. To make regulations concerning corporations, min- 
ing, and various other industries of the State. 

7. To prescribe penalties for the punishment of of- 
fences. 

8. To make laws concerning real estate and other 
property and the settlement of estates, 

9. To provide for a system of education. 



POWERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 73 

10. To make laws regulating business relations and 
transactions. 

11. In general, to make laws necessary for the good 
order, protection, and prosperity of the people of the State. 

The General Assembly has the power to elect a Gov- 
ernor in case of a tie vote. 

Some of the powers of the General Assembly are 
national in scope: 

1. United States Senators are elected by the General 
Assembly. 

Each house of the General Assembly nominates at least 
one candidate for United States Senator and at least two days 
previous to the election each house must inform the other as 
to whom it has nominated. 

At 3 p.m., on the third Tuesday in January, if the General 
Assembly has organized before the second Tuesday in January, 
and if it has not organized before this day, then on the second 
Tuesday after its organization, in those years in which a United 
States Senator's term expires, the two houses meet in separate 
session and proceed to elect a United States Senator according 
to the method prescribed by act of Congress. 

2. A vacancy in the office of United States Senator is 
filled by the General Assembly. 

If the vacancy occurs during the session of the General 
Assembly, it proceeds to elect a Senator, in the regular manner, 
on the second Tuesday after receiving official notification of the 
vacancy. 

If the vacancy exists when the General Assembly meets, an 
election is held to fill the vacancy on the second Tuesday after 
the organization. 

If a vacancy exists in a recess of the General Assembly, the 
State Constitution provides that the Governor shall call an 
extra session within sixty days to fill the vacancy. 

3. The General Assembly divides the State into Con- 



74 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

gressional Districts for the election of United States Rep- 
resentatives: 

4. The General Assembly prescribes the method for 
choosing presidential electors. 

A Joint Power 0} the Senate and the Governor. The 
Senate must confirm nominations made by the Governor 
for various offices before the officers can be appointed. 

Powers of a Minority. While in nearly all cases a 
majority is required for the transaction of business in the 
General Assembly, the minority also has a few powers : 

1 . It may adjourn from day to day. 

2. It may compel the attendance of absent members. 

3. At the desire of any two members, the, yeas and 
nays must be entered on the journal. 

Other References in the Constitution. Art. Ill, Sec. 
10, 14, 16, 25; Art. IV. Sec. 2, 12; Art. V, Sec. 1; Art, 
VI, Sec. 1, 2 ; Art. X, Sec. 1 ; Art. XIV, Sec. 1, 5, 6. 

ARTICLE III. 

LEGISLATION. 

The Law of the State, The law of the State consists 
of two great classes : 

1. The Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United 
States. 

2. The Constitution and laws of the State. 

Since the State laws usually pertain to matters different 
from those on which Congress legislates, United States and 
State laws do not often conflict. When they do conflict, 
the United States law must be followed; and the final 
decision as to conflict is vested in the United States Su- 
preme Court. 



HOW LAWS ARE MADE 75 

Committees. The committees of the House of Repre- 
sentatives are appointed by the Speaker and those of the 
Senate by the President pro tempore. 

The standing committees of the House of Representa- 
tives, by the present rules of the House, number thirty-nine. 
They consist of twenty- five members, except the committee 
on appropriations, which has thirty members. In the 
Senate there are thirty-two standing committees, consisting 
of from seven to twenty-one members. 

The following are the names of some of the standing com- 
mittees appointed in each house : Committee on Agriculture, on 
Appropriations, on Education, on Elections, on Insurance, on 
Law and Order, on Legislative Apportionment, on Military 
Affairs, on Mines and Mining, on Public Health and Sanitation, 
on Railroads. The Committee of Ways and Means, which 
deals with questions concerning the raising of revenue, is dis- 
tinctively a committee of the House of Representatives. 

Special or select committees may be appointed when 
necessary. 

A committee o] the whole consists of the whole house. 
When the house resolves itself into a committee of the 
whole house, the presiding officer appoints a chairman of 
the committee. 

A conference committee is a committee consisting of 
members of each house and its duty usually is to attempt 
to reach an agreement on points in a bill on which the two 
houses can not agree. 

How Laws are Made. Introducing a Bill. i. No 

law shall be passed unless it was first introduced as a bill. 

A bill may be introduced by any member of the General 

Assembly. 

In the House of Representatives the Speaker calls the 
names of the members by counties alphabetically and a mem- 



76 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

ber desiring to introduce a bill rises when his name is called 
and reads the title of his bill. In the Senate, the President, 
commencing on his left, recognizes Senators wishing to intro- 
duce bills, passing from left to right. 

2. All bills must be referred by the presiding officer to 
the appropriate committee. 

The committee considers the features and merits of each 
bill and may amend a bill to any extent or may combine 
two or more bills on the same subject. After it has fin- 
ished consideration of a bill it may report the bill favorably 
to the house or it may report it negatively. A committee 
cannot change the title of a bill. 

Two beneficial features of the committee system may 
be mentioned : 

So many bills are introduced that it would be practically 
impossible for the General Assembly to give proper con- 
sideration to every one of them and many of them are of 
such a nature that valuable time would be lost in discussing 
them. The committee relieves its house of this work and 
eliminates worthless bills. 

The committee thoroughly studies each bill, recom- 
mends amendments to those that can be improved, strikes 
out objectionable features, and reports it to the house in 
proper form for immediate action. 

3. No bill, except a general appropriation bill, may 
contain more than one subject ; and this subject must be 
clearly expressed in the title of the bill. 

4. All bills for raising revenue must originate in the 
House of Representatives. Other bills may originate in 
either house. 

Action on a Bill. The process of passing a bill in the 
General Assembly is practically the same as the method 
used in Congress. The following is a brief outline: 

1. No bill is considered unless referred to a committee, 



HOW LAWS ARE MADE 77 

returned from the committee, and printed for the use of the 
members. When a bill is reported by a committee it is 
placed on the calendar of bills on first reading. No bill 
reported negatively can be placed on the calendar unless 
by the vote of a majority of the whole house. 

2. Each bill must be read at length on three different 
days. After each reading a vote is taken to agree to the 
bill, that is, to accept it for consideration by the house in 
the form in which it was read. 

The bill is read the second time in the committee of the 
whole unless, by unanimous consent, the house dispenses with 
this committee. On the second reading the bill is read section 
by section and as each section is read it is subject to debate 
and amendment, after which a vote is taken to agree to the 
section. If after any reading the bill is not agreed to, it is 
recommitted to a committee for its further consideration. 

3. The bill is debated by the house after the second 
reading. 

4. After the third reading a vote is taken upon its final 
passage. This vote must be taken by yeas and nays and 
the names of the persons voting for and against the bill must 
be entered on the journal. To pass a bill, a majority of 
all the members elected to the house must vote for it. No 
member may vote who has a private interest in the bill. 

5. After the bill is passed by the house, it must be 
signed by the presiding officer in the presence of the house. 

6. The Clerk then takes the bill to the other house for 
its concurrence, where action is taken upon the bill in prac- 
tically the same way as in the first house. 

No new bill shall be transmitted from one house to the 
other within four days of final adjournment. 

7. When the bill is signed by the presiding officer of 
the second house it is sent to the Governor for his approval. 
No bill shall be passed on the day of final adjournment, 



78 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

8. If the Governor signs the bill it is a law. If he 
vetoes the bill, and both houses of the General Assembly 
pass it by a vote of two-thirds of all the members over 
his veto, it becomes a law without his signature. 

The Governor may disapprove of any item or items of 
an appropriation bill. This gives him the power to reject 
an objectionable appropriation without rejecting the entire 
bill. By a decision of the Supreme Court, he may also 
reduce the amount of any item of appropriation. 

9. Amendments may be made by either house to any 
bill. 

While a bill is passing through the General Assembly 
it shall not be so altered or amended as to change its origi- 
nal purpose. When one house makes an amendment, the 
other house must vote on it in the same manner as it votes 
on a bill. 

How a Bill may become a Law. 1. By being passed 
by both houses of the General Assembly and signed by the 
Governor. 

2. By being passed by both houses of the General As- 
sembly, vetoed by the Governor, and passed over his veto. 

3. By being passed by both houses of the General As- 
sembly and kept by the Governor longer than ten days, 
provided the General Assembly has not adjourned in this 
time. 

4. If the bill is kept by the Governor until after the 
adjournment of the General Assembly, provided it adjourns 
within ten days after the Governor has received the bill, it 
shall be a law unless the Governor files the bill with his 
objections in the office of the Secretary of the Common- 
wealth and makes public proclamation of this fact within 
thirty days after the adjournment of the General Assembly. 

How a Bill may not become a Law. 1. By not being 
reported favorably by the committee. 
2. By failing to pass in either house. 



PROHIBITIONS ON LEGISLATION 79 

3. By being passed by both houses of the General 
Assembly, vetoed by the Governor, and not passed over 
his veto. 

4. By the filing of objections to the bill, that is, veto- 
ing it, within thirty days after the adjournment of the 
General Assembly. 

Prohibitions on Legislation. In the following Sec- 
tions of the Constitution various laws are mentioned or im- 
plied which the General Assembly is forbidden to pass: 
Art. I, Sec. 3, 4, 7, 14, 17, 18, 24, 25; Art. II, Sec. 16; Art. 
Ill, Sec. 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 
25, 27; Art. V, Sec. 26; Art. IX, Sec. 2, 4, 7, 9; Art. XVI, 
Sec. 2, 3,8, 10; Art. XVIII. 

In Article III, Section 7, the General Assembly is forbidden 
to pass local or special laws on a large number of subjects. A 
local or special law is a law whose provisions apply only to one 
community, corporation, or individual instead of the entire State 
or all its citizens. This is a very important section. It obviates 
the confusion which would be caused by many special laws, 
prevents the injustice which would be a result of laws granting 
special privileges to favored individuals, and acts as a check 
upon legislative corruption and arbitrary legislation. 

Local or special laws which are not forbidden may be 
passed only after notice of the intention to apply for such 
legislation has been published within three months and at least 
thirty days before the introduction of the bill, once a week for 
four consecutive weeks, in two newspapers, if there are so many, 
published in the county, city, or borough in which the locality 
affected by such special law is situated; and the affidavit of 
the publisher that the notice was published must be attached 
to each special or local bill. 

Appropriations. No money can be paid out of the State 
treasury unless the General Assembly first passes a law 
appropriating the necessary sum of money for the purpose 
for which it is paid. 



8o THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

The general appropriation bill includes the ordinary 
expenses of the executive, legislative, and judicial depart- 
ments, interest on the public debt, and appropriations for 
the public schools. All other appropriations must be 
made by separate bills. 

Restrictions upon appropriations are mentioned in Sec- 
tions 10, ii, 17, 18, and 19. 

Questions Requiring Reference to the State Constitution. 
1. Are the sessions of the General Assembly public or 
secret? Art. II, Sec. 13. 

2. How are resolutions passed in the General Assembly? 
Art. Ill, Sec. 26. 

3. How may a law be revived or amended? Art. Ill, 
Sec. 6. 

4. What references to religion are made in the Constitu- 
tion? Preamble; Art. I, Sec. 3, 4. 

5. What does the Constitution state concerning bribery? 
Art. Ill, Sec. 29, 30, 31, 32. 

6. How may the capital be removed to another place? 
Art. Ill, Sec. 28. 

7. Who pays for the stationery used in the government 
offices? Art. Ill, Sec. 12. 

8. What action requires a two-thirds vote in the General 
Assembly? Art. II, Sec. 11; Art III, Sec. 17, 26; Art. IV, 
Sec. 8, 15, 16; Art. V, Sec. 15; Art. VI, Sec. 2, 4. 

Other References in the Constitution. Art. IV, Sec. 
15, 16. 

ARTICLE IV. 

The Executive Department. 

Executive Officers of the State. The Governor is 
the head of the Executive Department and is the chief ex- 
ecutive officer of the State. The first section of Article IV 
gives a list of officers of the Executive Department; but 
other executive offices have since been established by law. 



THE GOVERNOR 8 1 

Besides the principal executive officers there is a large num- 
ber of deputies, assistants, clerks, messengers, and other 
subordinate officers, all of whom are engaged in enforcing 
or carrying out the provisions of the law. In addition to 
the State officers, the various executive officers of county, 
township, city, and borough also assist in enforcing the 
laws of the State. While the number of executive officers 
is large, some laws still are poorly enforced on account of 
an inadequate number of officials to see to their proper 
execution. 

The Governor. Election. The Governor is elected by 
the voters of the State, on the first Tuseday after the first 
Monday in November, in the even year between leap years. 
The returns of the election are sealed and transmitted to 
the Secretary of the Commonwealth, directed to the Presi- 
dent of the Senate. These returns must be delivered by 
the Secretary of the Commonwealth to the President of 
the Senate within five days after the meeting of the General 
Assembly. The two houses then meet in joint session, 
usually at 12 m. on the Thursday preceding the inaugura- 
tion, the President of the Senate opens the returns in the 
presence of both houses, the clerk of the Senate reads 
them, the votes are computed by tellers, and the result is 
announced by the President of the Senate. The candidate 
who has the highest number of votes stands elected. The 
certificate of election is signed by the presiding officer of 
each house. 

If two or more candidates should ever happen to receive 
an equal number of votes, and no other candidate has a 
higher vote, the General Assembly immediately proceeds, 
in joint meeting, to elect a Governor from the candidates 
having a tie vote. 

The Governor of Pennsylvania is 

A contested election is investigated by a joint committee 
consisting of twelve Senators and twenty-five Representa- 



&2 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

tives, chosen by lot. The Chief Justice presides over 
the meetings of the committee but has no vote. The com- 
mittee decides which candidate is entitled to the office of 
Governor. 

If the committee finds that the election was invalid and 
that therefore no person is entitled to the office of Governor, 
the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House shall 
immediately issue a joint writ to the sheriffs of the counties 
ordering a special election for Governor to be held at the next 
general election. 

Term. The Governor is elected for a term of four 
years. He is inaugurated on the third Tuesday in January 
in the year following his election. The inauguration takes 
place in front of the State capitol and its principal features 
are the administering of the oath of office to the Governor, 
usually by a justice of the Supreme Court, the inaugural 
address, and military and civic parades and demonstrations. 
He exercises the duties of his office until his successor has 
qualified. 

The number of terms to which a Governor may be 
elected is not limited, but he can not hold two successive 
terms. Robert E. Pattison, for example, was elected 
Governor in 1882 and again in 1890. The argument 
against two successive terms is based on the theory that no 
person vested with extensive powers like those of the Gov- 
ernor should be allowed to exercise these powers for too 
long a time. 

The first Governor under the Constitution of 1873 was 
elected in 1875 for a term of three years. Succeeding Gov- 
ernors were elected for four years. By this arrangement the 
Governor's term begins in the year in which the General As- 
sembly meets and is coextensive with one senatorial and two 
representative terms. 

Qualifications. The Governor must be a citizen of the 
United States, he must be at least thirty years of age, and 



THE GOVERNOR 83 

must have been an inhabitant of the State for seven years 
next preceding his election. Section 6 gives a disqualifica- 
tion. 

Vacancy. In case of a vacancy in the office of Gov- 
ernor, the Lieutenant-Governor becomes Governor; and if 
a vacancy again occurs during the same term, the President 
pro tempore of the Senate succeeds to the governorship. 
The seat of the President pro tempore in the Senate is 
then vacant and must be filled as any other vacancy in the 
Senate is filled. 

Salary. The Governor receives an annual salary of 
$10,000. He has the free use of the Executive Mansion. 
The State also pays the salaries of a private secretary, 
several clerks, and a few other officials connected with the 
executive office. 

Powers and Duties 0} the Governor. 1. He shall take 
care that the laws are faithfully executed. 

2. He shall be commander-in-chief of the military and 
naval forces of the State except when they are in the 
actual service of the United States and may call out the 
militia when necessary. 

3. He nominates and, by and with the advice of two- 
thirds of all the Senators, appoints certain officers. The 
Governor nominates a person for office by sending his name 
to the Senate and the Senate confirms or rejects the nom- 
ination. If the Senate confirms the nomination the Gov- 
ernor appoints the person to the office. If the Senate 
rejects it, the Governor nominates another person. 

4. He has the power to fill vacancies in various 
offices. 

5. He has the power to remit fines and forfeitures, to 
grant reprieves, and, on the recommendation of the board 
of pardons, to grant commutations of sentences and pardons 
except in cases of impeachment. 

6. He may require information, in writing, from the 



84 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

officers of the executive department, on any subject con- 
nected with their offices. 

7. He shall give to the General Assembly information 
of the state of the Commonwealth and shall recommend to 
it such measures as he shall judge expedient. This he 
does in his biennial message to the General Assembly. 

8. He may call special sessions of the General Assem- 
bly and may convene the Senate in extraordinary session 
for the transaction of executive business. 

9. He may adjourn the General Assembly in case of 
disagreement between the two houses as to the time of 
adjournment. 

10. He shall sign or veto bills; also all orders, resolu- 
tions, and votes, on which the concurrent vote of both 
houses is necessary, except a resolution to adjourn. 

11. He shall sign the commissions of officers receiv- 
ing their commissions from the State. 

12. He publishes, by proclamation, in one or more 
newspapers, the names of persons elected as United States 
Representatives and as Presidential Electors. 

13. He approves charters of corporations for profit 
and signs patents for land issued by the State. 

14. He is ex- officio a member of a number of State 
boards and commissions. 

The powers of appointing officers and issuing pardons 
are conditional, one depending upon confirmation by the 
Senate, the other upon recommendation by the board of 
pardons. 

The Lieutenant-Governor. The Lieutenant-Governor 
is elected in the same manner, serves for the same term, and 
must have the same qualifications, as the Governor. 

A vacancy in the office of Lieutenant-Governor is never 
filled, but his place as President of the Senate is taken by 
the President pro tempore. His salary is $5000 a year. 



THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 85 

He is President of the Senate, but has no vote unless 
the vote of the Senate is equally divided. If the Governor 
is unable, by reason of some disability, to perform the 
duties of his office, the Lieutenant-Governor acts as 
Governor. 



The Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsylvania is. 



The Department of State. The Secretary of the Com- 
monwealth is the head of the Department of State. He 
is appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent 
of two-thirds of the Senate, during the Governor's pleas- 
ure. His term is therefore nominally four years. His 
salary is $8000 a year. 

The Secretary of the Commonwealth is the custodian of 
the laws and resolutions passed by the General Assembly. 
He keeps a record of all the official acts of the Governor. 
He conducts the official correspondence between this 
State and other States or with the United States. He is 
the keeper of the seal of the State, affixes the seal to docu- 
ments requiring it, and countersigns all such papers. 
Charters of corporations for profit, requisition warrants, 
and other papers are scrutinized by him, before the Gov- 
ernor affixes his signature; and the official bonds of offi- 
cers commissioned by the Governor are kept in his office. 
The election returns for national, state, and county officers 
who receive executive commissions are in his custody. 

The Attorney- General's Department. The Attorney- 
General is appointed by the Governor, with the advice and 
consent of two-thirds of the Senate, at pleasure. His term 
is nominally four years. He receives $12,000 a year. 

The Attorney- General is the legal adviser of the Gov- 
ernor and of the heads of departments and other State offi- 
cials. He is the attorney for the State in lawsuits to 



86 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

which the State is a party and acts in behalf of the State 
in other legal transactions. 

The Treasury Department. The State Treasurer is the 
head of the Treasury Department. He is elected by the 
voters of the State at the general election, for a term of 
four years. His term begins on the first Monday in May. 
His salary is $8000 per annum. He is under bond to the 
amount of $500,000. 

The State Treasurer has charge of the public money 
of the State, which he keeps on deposit in various banks 
and trust companies, and has general supervision of the 
State's finances. It is his duty to receive and receipt for all 
money paid into the State treasury and to apportion the 
money received between the sinking fund and the general 
revenue fund. He pays all warrants drawn on the State 
treasury by proper officers in consequence of appropriations 
made by the General Assembly. 

He furnishes a monthly financial statement to the Auditor- 
General, a quarterly statement to the Commissioners of the Sink- 
ing Fund, an annual report to the General Assembly of the 
receipts and expenditures of the fiscal year ending on Novem- 
ber 30, and a financial report to the General Assembly at the 
opening of each biennial session. 

The Auditor- General's Department. The Auditor- 
General is elected by the voters of the State, at the general 
election, for a term of four years. His term begins on the 
first Tuesday in May. He receives an annual salary of 
$8000. Like the Treasurer, he cannot hold two successive 
terms. 

It is the duty of the Auditor- General to examine, ad- 
just, and settle all accounts between the Commonwealth 
and any department, officer, person, association, or cor- 
poration. He makes an annual examination of the con- 



DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS 87 

dition of the State treasury and issues a report on the 
finances of the State at the close of each fiscal year. 

In the settlement of accounts of the General Assembly and 
the departments of the government he has the power to disallow 
any excess over what he finds to be a reasonable cash price. He 
has full power in the adjustment of accounts to compel the 
attendance of witnesses and other persons and the production 
of books and papers relating to the account; and he can im- 
prison persons for refusing to testify. 

The Department of Internal Affairs, The Secretary of 
Internal Affairs is the head of this department. He is 
elected by the voters of the State, at the general election, 
for a term of four years. His term begins on the first Tues- 
day in May. His salary is $8000 a year. 

The department consists of five bureaus, and the Sec- 
retary of Internal Affairs has the direction and general 
supervision of the work of these bureaus. 

The Land Office Bureau. This bureau contains the record 
of the first titles to the lands within the State acquired by the 
proprietaries and the Commonwealth; the records of grants 
and conveyances of public lands; the records of the organiza- 
tion of the counties of the State; and the papers relating to 
the surveys and boundary lines of the State. There are no 
large tracts of vacant land in the State, but occasionally small 
tracts are still found which are open for sale through the land 
office bureau. 

The Bureau of Industrial Statistics. It is the duty of this 
bureau to collect and publish labor statistics; to investigate 
the relations existing between capital and labor; to secure 
information concerning the industrial, social, and educational 
condition of persons engaged in manual labor; and to recom- 
mend methods for improving the conditions of the laboring 
classes. 

The Bureau of Assessments and Taxes. This bureau com- 
piles and tabulates information concerning the assessed values 
of property and the taxes and rates of taxation throughout the 
State. 

The Bureau of Railways. This bureau gathers statistics 



88 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

concerning railroads, canals, and telegraph and telephone lines 
operated in the State and is charged with the enforcement of 
the law with reference to corporations of this class. 

The Bureau of Standards. The chief of this bureau has 
custody of the State standards of weights and measures and 
shall test and regulate all weights and measures of city and 
borough sealers or inspectors. 

The Department of Public Instruction. See Article X. 

The Adjutant- General's Department. The Adjutant- 
General is appointed by the Governor, with the advice and 
consent of the Senate for four years and until his successor 
is appointed and qualified. He receives an annual salary 
of $4000. 

The Adjutant- General is chief of the Governor's Staff. 
He issues all orders to the National Guard by the authority 
of the Governor and is charged with the execution of these 
orders. He inspects the National Guard at the annual en- 
campments and has charge of the State arsenal and other 
military property. 

The Governor's Staff is a body of military officers who 
act as his assistants and attend him on formal occasions as 
a guard of honor. 

The Department of Agriculture. The Secretary of 
Agriculture is appointed by the Governor with the advice 
and consent of the Senate, for a term of four years. His 
salary is $3500. 

The duty of the Secretary of Agriculture is to collect 
and publish statistics concerning agricultural industries, to 
investigate as to what grains, fruits, grasses, and other crops 
are adaptable to the soil and climate of the State, to inves- 
tigate plant diseases, and in general to promote the develop- 
ment of agricultural and allied industries. He makes an 
annual report to the Governor and may issue special bul- 
letins on subjects relating to agriculture. 



THE INSURANCE DEPARTMENT 89 

There are several important divisions in this department: 

The Deputy Secretary and Director of Farmers' Institutes 
engages speakers and fixes the times and places for holding 
farmers' institutes in various parts of the State. 

The Dairy and Food Commissioner makes investigations of 
food products and carries out the provisions of the pure food 
laws. 

The Economic Zoologist collects information relative to 
insect pests and diseases affecting trees and plants, gives in- 
structions for their prevention or extermination, and investi- 
gates the economic value of the birds and animals in general 
found in the State. He publishes the results of his investiga- 
tions in monthly bulletins. The Nursery Inspector belongs 
to this division. 

The State Veterinarian investigates diseases of domestic 
animals and carries out the provisions of the laws relating to 
such matters. 

The State Board of Agriculture is also connected with this 
department. An idea of the scope of its work may be obtained 
by noting that among the officials of the board are a botanist, 
a pomologist, a chemist, a veterinary surgeon, a sanitarian, 
microscopists and hygienists, entomologists, an ornithologist, 
meteorologists, a mineralogist, an apiarist, and geologists. 

Other Departments. The heads of these departments 
are appointed by the Governor and the Senate, the Insur- 
ance Commissioner for a term of three years, the others 
for terms of four years. 

The Insurance Department. The Insurance Commis- 
sioner is charged with the execution of the insurance laws 
and in his annual report to the General Assembly he gives 
a list of the insurance companies doing business in the State 
and a summary of the financial condition of each company. 

The Banking Department. It is the duty of the Com- 
missioner of Banking to see that the laws relating to banks, 
trust companies, building and loan associations, and all 
similar companies are faithfully enforced. He appoints a 



90 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

number of examiners to investigate the financial condition 
of banks and other institutions. 

The Department of Forestry. The State Forestry Res- 
ervation Commission, which is charged with the purchase 
and management of suitable lands for timber culture and 
the protection of the water sources of the State, is connected 
with this department. 

It is the duty of the Commissioner of Forestry to en- 
force the rules of the Forestry Commission, to encourage 
and promote the development of forestry, and to publish 
information concerning the forest lands of the State. On 
the Mont Alto reservation, a School of Forestry and a sana- 
torium for poor consumptives have been established. 

The Department of Factory Inspection. It is the duty 
of the Chief Factory Inspector to enforce the laws concern- 
ing the employment of labor and to see that all industrial 
establishments and public buildings of all classes are pro- 
vided with the proper appliances for the safety and health 
of the employees and inmates. No child under fourteen 
years of age shall be employed in any establishment. The 
Chief Factory Inspector appoints a number of deputy fac- 
tory inspectors, five of whom shall be women. 

The Department of Mines. It is the duty of the Chief 
of this Department to execute the mining laws of the State. 
He is authorized to inspect and examine any mine or col- 
liery in the State. He gives aid and instruction to mine in- 
spectors and makes investigations so as to enable him to re- 
port on the systems and methods of mining in the State. 

The Department of Health. It is the duty of the Com- 
missioner of Health to protect the health of the people 
by enforcing laws relating to sanitary matters, employing 
means for the prevention and suppression of diseases, mak- 
ing sanitary investigations, abating and removing nuisances 
detrimental to the public health, enforcing quarantine regu- 
lations, and preserving the purity of the waters of the State. 



STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT 91 

With the assistance of an advisory board, orders and regu- 
lations are drawn up for the prevention of disease and the 
protection of life and health. 

The department contains a Bureau of Vital Statistics for 
the registration of births, marriages, deaths, and diseases. 
The bureau is in charge of a State Registrar and local registrars 
are appointed by the Commissioner of Health in each township, 
borough, and city in the State. Burial permits also are issued 
by the local registrars of vital statistics. 

The State Highway Department. The State Highway 
Commissioner is charged with carrying into effect the pro- 
visions of the laws concerning the construction and main- 
tenance of a system of State Highways and the co-opera- 
tion of the State with the counties, townships, and boroughs 
in the construction and maintenance of improved roads; 
and he shall encourage a general system of highway 
improvement. 

The Department of Public Printing and Binding. The 
Superintendent of Public Printing and Binding supervises the 
printing and binding of the reports made by the heads of 
departments, of matter ordered to be printed by the General 
Assembly, and of other public documents. 

The Department of Fisheries. The Commissioner of 
Fisheries encourages and promotes the development of the 
fishery interests of the State and is the chief superintendent of 
the hatching stations. 

The Fisheries Commission, of which he is the head, is 
authorized to employ persons for the protection of fish and for 
the apprehension of persons violating the fish laws. All fish- 
wardens, constables, and other guardians of the peace are re- 
quired to make prompt report to the Commissioner of viola- 
tions of the fish-laws. 

The Department 0} State Police. The Superintendent 
of the State Police appoints the State Police Force, pro- 
vides arms, equipments, and headquarters for the State 
Police, and makes regulations, subject to the approval 
of the Governor, for their control. 



92 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

The State Police shall assist in preserving law and 
order throughout the State and shall co-operate with the 
local authorities in detecting and apprehending criminals. 

The State Fire Marshal shall investigate the causes 
of fires and shall provide for inspection of buildings with 
the object of preventing fires. 

Boards and Commissions. The Board of Pardons 
consists of the Lieutenant-Governor, the Secretary of the 
Commonwealth, the Attorney- General, and the Secretary 
of Internal Affairs. No pardon shall be issued by the Gov- 
ernor except upon the recommendation in writing of the 
entire board or any three of its members. The board 
meets in open session to consider applications for pardons 
on the third Wednesday of each month, in the Supreme 
Court room, at Harrisburg. Each member receives $500. 

The Board of Public Grounds and Buildings has control and 
supervision of the public grounds and buildings of the State. 

The Board of Game Commissioners enforces the laws re- 
lating to the protection and preservation of the game, song, and 
insectivorous birds and the mammals of the State. For this 
purpose they appoint Game Protectors in various sections of 
the State. 

The State Live Stock Sanitary Board protects the health of 
the domestic animals of the State by employing means for the 
prevention, suppression, or eradication of dangerous, con- 
tagious, or infectious diseases among domestic animals. 

The State Board of Undertakers, the State Board of Veteri- 
nary Medical Examiners, the Board for the Examination of 
Accountants, the Pharmaceutical Eocamining Board, a State 
Board of Medical Examiners, and a State Board of Dental 
Examiners examine, license, and register persons desiring to 
practice in the vocation indicated by the title of the board. 

The Anatomical Board of the State of Pennsylvania super- 
vises the distribution of dead human bodies among the medical 
and dental colleges of the State for the promotion of medical 
science. 



THE STATE LIBRARY 93 

The College and University Council approves or disap- 
proves of applications for charters for colleges, universities, or 
seminaries desiring the power to confer degrees and visits in- 
stitutions holding such charters to see whether they keep up 
to the required standard. It makes a biennial report to the 
General Assembly on higher education within the State. 

The Sinking Fund Commission receives the revenues be- 
longing to the sinking fund and applies them according to law. 

The Water Supply Commission obtains data concerning 
the water supply of the State and adopts means for conserving, 
developing, purifying, and equitably distributing the waters of 
the State. 

The Commission of Soldiers' Orphan Schools provides 
schools for the orphans of soldiers and sailors and supervises 
the management of these institutions. 

The Pennsylvania State Railroad Commission hears com- 
plaints concerning freight and passenger rates, the distribution 
of cars, the location of stations, and similar matters; investi- 
gates the causes of accidents on railroads; makes recommenda- 
tions as to crossings, safety appliances, and the protection of 
the public in general; and sees that the laws and regulations 
concerning railroads are obeyed. 

The State Library. The State Librarian is appointed 
by the Governor and the Senate for a term of four years. 
He has charge of the State Library and receives all moneys 
appropriated for library purposes and disburses them under 
the direction of the board of trustees. The Library con- 
tains about 123,000 volumes. 

The board of trustees was authorized, by the act of 
March 28, 1905, to use the Executive Building, as soon as 
the officials occupying it removed to the new Capitol, for 
the establishment of a museum of objects illustrating the 
flora and fauna of the State and its mineralogy, geology, 
archaeology, arts, and history. 

State Institutions. Among the institutions supervised and 
supported by the State are two penitentiaries, a number of 
lunatic asylums and hospitals for the insane and feeble-minded, 
a soldiers' and sailors' home, a number of hospitals for the sick 



94 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

and injured in the mining regions, several cottage State hospi- 
tals, and several educational institutions noted under Article X. 

Vacancies in Executive Offices, The methods of filling 
vacancies in the offices of Governor and Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor have already been explained. 

Vacancies in other executive offices may happen under 
two conditions: 

i. When the Senate is in session. 

2. When the Senate is not in session. 

The offices in which these vacancies may happen are of 
two classes: i. Appointive offices. 2. Elective offices. 

Appointive Offices. If a vacancy happens during the 
session of the Senate a person is appointed by the Governor 
with the advice and consent of the Senate to fill the vacancy. 

If a vacancy happens during a recess of the Senate, the 
Governor appoints a person to the vacancy and gives him a 
commission which shall expire at the end of the next ses- 
sion of the Senate. During this session a person is ap- 
pointed to the vacancy in the regular manner. 

Elective Offices. The Governor also has power to fill 
vacancies which may happen in the office of Auditor- Gen- 
eral, State Treasurer, Secretary of Internal Affairs, in a 
judicial office, or in any other elective office which he is or 
may be authorized to fill. 

If the vacancy happens during the session of the Senate, 
the Governor appoints a person to the vacancy with the 
consent of the Senate* 

If the vacancy happens during the recess of the Senate, 
the Governor appoints a person to fill the vacancy. 

But in any case of a vacancy in an elective office a per- 
son shall be elected to the office at the next election if the 
vacancy happens two months or more before the election; 
but if the vacancy happens within two calendar months 
preceding the next election, then a person shall be elected 



THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT 95 

to the office at the second election succeeding the happen- 
ing of the vacancy. 

Questions and Exercises, i. What were the offices of 
Secretary of Internal Affairs and Superintendent of Public 
Instruction called before the Constitution of 1873? Art. VI, 
Sec. 19, 20. 

2 . May a person be elected Governor who has not actually 
resided in the State during the seven years preceding his 
election? Art. IV, Sec. 5. 

3. How is the business of an executive session of the 
Senate transacted? Art. IV, Sec. 8. 

4. Give reasons why some officers are elected and others 
appointed. 

5. Arrange a table of the principal executive officers 
showing (1) how the office is obtained; (2) term, stating length 
and whether fixed or nominal; (3) salary, and (4) principal 
duty. 

6. Make a list of United States officers corresponding to 
State officers. 

7. How should the Governor be addressed when writing 
or speaking to him? 

Other References in the Constitution. Art. Ill, Sec, 
26; Art. XVII, Sec. 11. 



ARTICLE V. 

The Judicial Department. 

The Judicial System of the State. The judicial power 
of the State is vested in the following system of courts: 
The Supreme Court. 
The Superior Court. 

The District Courts. 

Courts of Common Pleas. 
Courts of Oyer and Terminer. 
Courts of Quarter Sessions. 
Orphans' Courts. 



g6 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Magistrates' Courts. 

Magistrates' Courts. 
Aldermen's Courts. 
Police Courts. 
Justices' Courts. 

Of these courts the district courts are discussed under 
county government, the first three classes of magistrates' 
courts under city government, and the justices' courts un- 
der township government. 

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the head of the 
judicial department of the State. 

How is a judge addressed in court ? 

The Supreme Court. Place of Meeting. The Su- 
preme Court holds annual sessions in each of the three 
Supreme Court districts of the State. In the eastern dis- 
trict it sits at Philadelphia, in the middle district, at Harris- 
burg, in the western district, at Pittsburgh. The court 
has a prothonotary for each district. 

Judges. The Supreme Court has seven judges, a chief 
justice and six associate justices. The judge whose com- 
mission expires first is Chief Justice. If two or more 
judges happen to be elected at the same time, priority of 
commission is determined by lot. 

Judges of the Supreme Court are elected by the voters 
of the State for a term of twenty-one years. The term be- 
gins on the first Monday in January. They are not eligible 
for a second term. If two judges are to be elected, a 
voter may vote for only one; if three are to be elected, he 
may not vote for more than two of the candidates. 

A vacancy in the office of Chief Justice is filled by suc- 
cession, the Associate Justice oldest in commission becom- 
ing Chief Justice. A vacancy among the Associate Jus- 
tices is filled by the method of filling vacancies in an elective 
office explained under executive offices. 



THE SUPREME COURT 97 

The only qualifications required for judges of the 
Supreme Court are that they must be learned in the law 
and must be qualified voters of the State. They shall 
reside in the State during their continuance in office. 

The salary of the Chief Justice is $13,500, of the 
Associate Justices $13,000. 

It is the duty of the judges to assist in holding sessions 
of the Supreme Court and, by virtue of their office, they 
are also justices of oyer and terminer in the several counties. 
The Chief Justice presides over the sessions of the court. 

Jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court ex- 
tends over the State. 

The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in — 

1. Cases of injunction where a corporation is a party 
defendant. 

2. Cases of habeas corpus. 

3. Cases of mandamus to courts of inferior jurisdiction. 

4. Cases of quo warranto as to all officers of the Common- 

wealth whose jurisdiction extends over the State. 
The Supreme Court has apellate jurisdiction — 

1. By appeal. 

2. By certiorari. 

3. By writ of error. 

An injunction is an order issued by a court requiring a 
person or party to do or, usually, to refrain from doing a certain 
thing. 

A writ of habeas corpus is a writ issued by a court ordering 
a prisoner to be brought before a court to determine whether he 
is legally or illegally imprisoned. 

A writ of mandamus is an order issued by a court of 
superior jurisdiction and directed to some inferior court, cor- 
poration, or official commanding a certain specified thing to be 
done as a part of the duty of the party against whom the writ 
is directed. 

A writ of quo warranto is a writ issued by a court com- 
manding an officer to show by what authority he holds a 
certain office or performs a certain act. 

A writ of certiorari is a writ issued by a superior court to an 



98 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

inferior one ordering a record of its proceedings in a particular 
case to be brought to the higher court for review. 

Trials. Most of the cases tried before the Supreme 
Court are appellate cases. An appellate case is tried with- 
out a jury and without witnesses. The proceedings of the 
lower court and the evidence presented there are printed 
and laid before the judges of the Supreme Court, the at- 
torneys for both sides argue the case, and a majority of the 
judges is necessary to render a decision. 

Decisions. The decisions of the Supreme Court are 
final unless the case is one of the few cases that may be 
appealed to a United States Court, as, for example, a case 
involving the construction of the United States Constitu- 
tion or of a United States law or a treaty. The Supreme 
Court Reports, which contain the decisions of the court, 
are of great importance, since a decision of the Supreme 
Court must be followed by the lower courts as a precedent 
in all similar cases. 

The Superior Court. Place of Meeting. The Su- 
perior Court meets annually at Scranton, Williamsport, 
Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia, and may meet 
at other places if the judges so decide. 

Judges. The Superior Court consists of seven judges, 
a president judge and six additional judges. The judge 
whose commission first expires, either as to the time of 
election or as a result of casting lots, shall be President 
Judge. A quorum consists of four judges. 

Judges of the Superior Court are elected by the voters 
of the State for a term of ten years. The term begins on 
the first Monday in January. Whenever two or more 
judges are to be elected at the same time, a voter may vote 
only for the number of judges to be elected less one. 

Vacancies are filled as in the Supreme Court; but if 
the President Judge shall be re-elected he shall continue to 
be President Judge. 



THE SUPERIOR COURT 99 

The salary of the President Judge is $12,500; of the 
Additional Judges, $12,000. 

Jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of the Superior Court 
extends throughout the State. This court was established in 
1895, as a court of intermediate appeal, to relieve the Su- 
preme Court of some of its work. It is therefore a court of 
appeals and has no original jurisdiction except the power 
of issuing writs of habeas corpus. 

The following classes of cases are appealed to the Superior 
Court: 

1. All cases or proceedings appealed from the courts of 

quarter sessions, except cases involving the right 
to a public office. 

2. All cases or proceedings appealed from the courts of 

oyer and terminer, except cases of homicide. 

3. All cases or proceedings appealed from the courts of 

common pleas or orphans' courts in which the 
value in controversy does not exceed $1500 except 
cases in which the Attorney- General appears in 
his official capacity and cases involving the right 
to a public office. 

4. Any case whatever, in which the parties or their 

attorneys make an agreement in the lower court 
at any stage of the proceedings, that the case may 
be heard and decided by the Superior Court. 
The excepted cases are appealed directly to the Supreme 
Court. 

The following classes of cases may be appealed from the 
Superior Court to the Supreme Court: 

1. Cases in which the jurisdiction of the Superior Court 

is in issue. 

2. Cases involving the construction of the Constitution 

of the United States or of any law or treaty of the 
United States or of the Constitution of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

3. Cases in which an appeal to the Supreme Court is 

specially allowed by the Superior Court or any 
one of its judges. 

But in any of these cases the decision of the Superior 
Court shall be final if the parties or their attorneys agree that 
no appeal shall be taken from the Superior Court. 



IOO THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

If, after any case is heard and decided in the Superior 
Court, four of the judges decide that the questions involved are 
so difficult or important that the case should be considered by 
the Supreme Court, it may be removed to the Supreme Court 
for final decision. 

The trials are conducted like those in the Supreme 
Court; and a record of its decisions is also kept in the 
volumes of the Superior Court Reports. 

Miscellaneous. The Commonwealth's cases are tried 
in the Dauphin County courts. 

A court o) record is a court whose decisions and judicial 
proceedings are printed or recorded in writing and pre- 
served for future use and reference. Courts above magis- 
trates' courts are courts of record. 

The United States and the State have concurrent juris- 
diction over tracts of land owned by the United States 
within the State. Jurisdiction over such tracts of land is 
ceded to the United States by an act of the General Assem- 
bly, which act also reserves to the State concurrent juris- 
diction w T ith the United States over such land in civil and 
criminal matters. 

No suit can be brought against the State by an indi- 
vidual without permission given by an act of General As- 
sembly. This act specifies the court in which the person 
having a claim against the State is authorized to bring suit. 

Any judge who is notified by the Governor, upon satis- 
factory medical evidence, that he is permanently incapacitated 
for performing his judicial duties and who resigns within thirty 
days, shall receive his full salary during the remainder of his 
term; and any Supreme or Superior Court judge, who has 
served continuously as a judge for twenty years and any 
Common Pleas or Orphans' Court judge who is seventy years 
old and has served continuously for twenty-five years, shall 
receive one-half of his salary after the expiration of his term 
during the rest of his life. Also, any judge who is not inca- 
pacitated for further service and possesses the above qualifica- 



IMPEACHMENT IOI 

tions, shall receive half of his salary during the rest of his life 
after his voluntary resignation or the expiration of his term. 
But in all cases a judge so retired shall hold himself in readiness 
to advise with his successors and colleagues of the court of 
which he was a member and to perform reasonable duties as 
special master, referee, auditor, or examiner, and he shall not 
engage in any remunerative occupation. 

Questions Requiring Reference to the Constitution, i . What 

courts are abolished or forbidden by the Constitution? Art. 
V, Sec. 21. 

2. What sentence in the Constitution shows the careful 
separation of the judicial department from other departments ? 
Art. V, Sec. 21. 

3. Why are the Superior Court judges not elected for 
twenty-one years? Art. V, Sec. 15. 

4. Why do justices of the peace not come under the pro- 
vision that judges below the Supreme Court judges shall be 
elected for ten years? Art. V, Sec. 15. 

5. What is done with fines paid in courts? Art. V, Sec. 

6. In whose name and authority are prosecutions con- 
ducted? Art. V, Sec. 23. 



ARTICLE VI. 
Impeachment and Removal from Office. 

Impeachment. The Governor and all other civil 
officers may be impeached for misdemeanor in office. 
Representatives and Senators cannot be impeached. 

The House of Representatives has the sole power of im- 
peachment. 

The Senate has the sole power of trying impeachments. 
In trying impeachment cases the Senate sits as a court and 
for this purpose the Senators must take a new oath or af- 
firmation. A two-thirds vote of all Senators present is re- 
quired to convict a person. The punishment inflicted by 



102 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

the Senate may consist only of removal from office and dis- 
qualification to hold any office of trust or profit under the 
Commonwealth. If, however, the person impeached has 
committed an offense against the law as well as against 
the dignity of his office, he may also be tried before a court 
and punished according to law. This may be done even 
if he is acquitted after the trial of impeachment. 

Removal from Office. Civil officers may be removed 
from office by conviction in case of impeachment. All officers 
shall be removed on conviction of misbehavior in office or of 
any infamous crime. 

Representatives and Senators can be removed by expulsion 
from their respective houses by a two-thirds vote of the mem- 
bers. 

Appointed officers may be removed by the person or per- 
sons by whom they were appointed. 

Officers elected by the people, except the Governor, 
Lieutenant-Governor, members of the General Assembly, and 
judges learned in the law, may be removed by the Governor, 
for reasonable cause, on the address of two-thirds of the 
Senate. 

Judges may be removed by conviction in case of impeach- 
ment. If there is reasonable cause which is not sufficient ground 
for impeachment, the Governor may remove a judge on the 
address of two-thirds of each house of the General Assembly. 



ARTICLE VII. 

The Oath of Office. 

This article states that Senators and Representatives 
and all judicial, State and county officers shall take the oath 
of office prescribed in the article before entering upon the 
duties of their respective offices. City, borough, and 
township officers are also required by law to take an oath 
of office. 



SUFFRAGE AND ELECTIONS 103 

Who administers the oath to the various officers ? 
Where shall the oath be filed? 
What is the effect of a refusal to take the oath ? 
What is the penalty for swearing falsely or for violating 
the oath of office? 



ARTICLE VIII. 

Suffrage and Elections. 

Qualifications of Voters. Amendment I to the Con- 
stitution of Pennsylvania requires a person to have the fol- 
lowing qualifications to entitle him to vote: 

1. He must be a male citizen. 

2. He must be at least twenty-one years of age. 

3. He must have been a citizen of the United States 
at least one month. 

4. He must have resided in the State at least one year 
immediately preceding the election, unless, having previ- 
ously been a qualified voter or a native born citizen of the 
State, he removed from the State and returned, then a resi- 
dence of only six months is required. 

5. He must have resided in the election district at 
least two months immediately preceding the election. 

6. If twenty-two years of age or more, he must within 
two years have paid a State or county tax which was as- 
sessed at least two months and paid at least one month 
before election. 

7. He must be subject to all laws requiring and regu- 
lating the registration of voters. 

A person between twenty-one and twenty-two years of age 
may "vote on age" without having previously paid taxes. 

A person does not gain residence by his presence or lose 
residence by his absence while engaged in the public service, 
either civil or military, of the State or of the United States 
while engaged in navigation in the waters of the State, of the 



104 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

United States, or on the high seas, while a student at any school, 
while kept in a poor-house or an asylum at public expense, or 
while confined in prison. 

Provision is made to allow qualified voters engaged in 
actual military service to vote at all elections by opening special 
polling places for them at the places where they are serving. 

Peculiar Privileges of Voters. In all cases except 
treason, felony, and breach or surety of the peace, voters 
are privileged from arrest while going to the election, 
attending it, or returning from it. The right to vote is a 
high privilege granted to all persons properly qualified; 
and there shall be no interference in the exercise of this 
privilege by any power, civil or military, nor by scheming 
politicians who might attempt to keep a voter away from 
the polls by having him arrested in a civil case or for some 
trivial offense. 

Method of Election. All elections by citizens shall 
be by ballot or by such other method as may be prescribed 
by law; but secrecy in voting must be preserved. Laws 
made for elections by citizens must be uniform throughout 
the State; but for the registration of voters special laws 
may be enacted for the several classes of cities. All elec- 
tions by persons in a representative capacity shall be viva 
voce. 

Election Districts and Polling Places. Townships and 
wards of cities and boroughs shall form election districts 
or shall be divided into election districts or voting pre- 
cincts by the court of quarter sessions if, on the petition of 
twenty voters, the court considers that the convenience 
of the voters or the public interests will be promoted 
by the division. 

No district formed by such division shall contain less than 
one hundred voters. The court has exclusive power in the 



THE ELECTION OFFICERS 105 

formation of election districts and may fix their boundaries. 
An election district may be formed of parts of two or more 
adjoining townships. 

In new election districts the court shall fix the places for 
holding elections. On the petition of at least ten voters the 
county commissioners may change the location of the polling 
place, not less than three weeks prior to any election for reasons 
that they may think proper; but at their discretion the com- 
missioners may order an election to be held to decide the loca- 
tion of the polling place. The Governor may change the place 
for holding an election if the prevalence of any malignant 
disease makes it dangerous for the voters to attend at the regu- 
lar polling place. 

The county commissioners are required to provide and fit 
up a room for voting purposes at the polling place and if no 
room can be rented they shall construct a temporary room for 
holding elections. The voting room must be provided with 
voting shelves or booths which can be closed with a curtain, 
screen, or door. There must be not less than one voting shelf 
for every seventy-five names on the assessor's list, but no room 
shall have less than three such voting compartments. A guard 
rail shall be constructed so that no person outside the guard 
rail can approach within six feet of the ballot box. Neither 
the ballot box nor the voting booths shall be hidden from view. 

The Election Officers. The board of election officers 
consists of a judge of election, two inspectors of election, 
and two clerks of election, each inspector appointing 
a clerk. At the election of inspectors the voters may 
vote for only one of the two inspectors to be chosen so 
that the inspectors may be of different political parties. 
The two inspectors are known as the majority inspector 
and the minority inspector. In townships divided into 
election districts a board of election officers is chosen in 
each district. Election officers are privileged from arrest 
on election days except upon a warrant of a court for an 
election fraud, felony, or wanton breach of the peace. 

The judge of election preserves order in the room and 
sees that the election laws are observed. He has charge 



106 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

of the ballot box and decides whether a person has the right 
to vote when the inspectors disagree. The inspectors of 
election decide whether a person presenting himself to 
vote is qualified to do so, and if they disagree they appeal 
to the judge for his decision. One of the inspectors hands 
out the ballots to voters and the clerks and other inspector 
check off the names of the persons voting from the ballot 
and voting check-lists and keep a record of the number of 
votes cast. 

The term of election officers is two years. It begins on 
the first Monday in January, 

A vacancy in the office of judge or inspector of election is 
filled by appointment by the court of common pleas ; the person 
appointed as judge of election must belong to the party having 
the majority of votes in the district and both inspectors shall 
not be of the same political party. On the day of the election, 
if the majority inspector shall fail to attend, the judge of elec- 
tion shall appoint one in his place; if the minority inspector 
shall fail to attend, the person who received the second highest 
number of votes for judge at the preceding election shall act 
in his place; if the judge shall not attend, the majority inspec- 
tor shall appoint a judge; and if a vacancy exists for one hour 
after the time of opening the election, the voters present at the 
place of election shall elect one of their number to fill the va- 
cancy. If a clerk of election fails to attend, the inspector who 
appointed him shall appoint another clerk to serve for the year. 
When a tie exists in the vote for judge of election, the majority 
inspector appoints a judge; and when a tie exists in the vote 
for inspector of election, the two candidates draw lots for 
majority inspector and the other candidate shall then be the 
minority inspector. 

The oath is administered to the judge of election by the 
minority inspector and the other election officers are then 
sworn by the judge. 

Besides the election officers, a number of voters not ex- 
ceeding ten, the assessor, the constable, overseers of election 
and party watchers are allowed to be in the voting room. On 
the petition of at least five citizens of an election district that 



THE PRIMARIES 107 

such precaution is necessary, the judges of the court of common 
pleas shall appoint two overseers of election, of different 
political parties, to supervise the proceedings of the election 
officers. Each party or group of citizens making nominations 
may appoint three watchers, but only one of these may be in 
the voting room at the same time. 

The Primaries. One primary is held in each year. 
A primary is an election, preceding a regular election, at 
which candidates for public offices are nominated and 
delegates to conventions and party officers are chosen. 

The spring primary is held on the second Saturday in 
April in even years. At this primary, candidates for all 
offices to be filled at the general election, except those 
nominated by National or State conventions, are nominated, 
and delegates to State and National conventions, except 
delegates at large to National conventions, are elected. 
Committeemen and such other party officers as shall, by 
the rules of the several political parties be elected by the 
people, are also elected at this primary. 

The jail primary is held on the last Saturday in Septem- 
ber, in odd years. At this primary, candidates for all 
offices to be filled at the municipal election are nominated. 

Delegates at large to the National conventions are elected 
by the State convention. State conventions nominate candi- 
dates for Governor and other State officers elected by the voters 
of the State at large. Among the State officers not nominated 
by State conventions are. Judges of the county courts, State 
Senators, and State Representatives. 

Any party or body of electors, one of whose candidates 
received two per cent of the highest vote cast for a candidate at a 
regular election of the preceding year, is allowed to nominate 
candidates at these primaries. 

Candidates for borough and township offices need not be 
nominated according to this law. Candidates to be chosen at 
special elections shall not be nominated according to this law. 
Candidates for presidential electors must not be nominated 
according to this law, but may be if the rules of the party so 
provide. 



108 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Any association of voters not constituting a party may 
nominate candidates by nomination papers. 

How conducted. The teacher should secure specimen 
ballots, both primary ballots and regular election ballots, 
and explain, according to directions on the ballots, how they 
are marked by the voter. Copies of ballots may also be 
cut out of newspapers advertising the election. 

The primaries are conducted in the same manner, by 
the same officers, and under similar conditions as the regu- 
lar elections. The polls are open between 2 p.m. and 8 
p. m. Liquor shall not be sold on primary election days 
from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

The qualifications of voters are the same as for other 
elections. When the voter appears before the election of- 
ficers he asks for the ballot of his party. If his right to 
vote for the candidates of that party is challenged, he must 
make affidavit that at the last preceding election at 
which he voted, he voted for the majority of the candi- 
dates of the party for whose ballot he asks. No voter 
may receive assistance in marking his ballot unless he makes 
affidavit that he cannot read the names on the ballot or is 
physically unable to mark his ballot. 

After the election the returns are computed and deliv- 
ered by the judge of elections to the county commissioners, 
either in person or by registered mail, on or before noon of 
the Tuesday following. The candidate having a plurality 
of votes is the candidate of his party. 

The expenses for holding the primaries are paid by the 
county, but the county is afterwards reimbursed for these 
expenses by the State. 

Nominations for the Primaries. Candidates for the pri- 
maries are proposed or nominated by party meetings, party 
caucuses, conventions of delegates, or popular meetings of 
voters. 



REGULAR ELECTIONS 109 

Nomination Papers. Candidates for office may be nomi- 
nated by nomination papers. If the nomination is made for 
any office to be filled by the voters of the State at large, the 
nomination paper must be signed by at least one-half per cent, 
and in case of a nomination for another office, by at least two 
per cent, of the largest vote cast for any officer at the last pre- 
ceding election in the division for which the nomination is 
made. 

Nomination papers for candidates for United States and 
State offices must be filed with the Secretary of the Common- 
wealth at least thirty-five days before the election; for tow r nship 
and borough offices, with the county commissioners at least 
fifteen days before the election; and for all other offices, with 
the county commissioners at least twenty-one days before the 
election. 

Regular Elections. One regular election is held in 
Pennsylvania in each year. 

The general election is held on the first Tuesday after 
the first Monday in November, biennially, in even years. 
State officers, United States Representatives, and presi- 
dential electors are chosen at this election. 

The municipal election is held on the first Tuesday 
after the first Monday in November, biennially, in odd 
years. At this election the judges of the judicial districts 
and county, city, ward, borough, and township officers 
are elected. 

Supreme and Superior court judges may be elected 
at either election; and special elections to fill unexpired 
terms may be held on either election day. 

The General Assembly may, by a two-thirds vote, fix 
a different election day except for the choosing of United 
States Representatives. 

How Conducted. Only the election officers, voters ad- 
mitted by them, and officers admitted by their authority to 
preserve order or enforce the law are allowed to be within 
the guard rail. The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. 



IIO THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Liquor is not to be sold or given away on any election 
day. 

When the voter appears in the election room he shall 
give his name and residence to the inspector in charge of 
the ballots. If his name is found on the ballot check list, 
the voter receives a ballot and is allowed to enter the space 
within the guard rail to vote, unless his right to vote is chal- 
lenged. He then proceeds to one of the voting shelves 
where, having closed the compartment, he shall mark his 
ballot without undue delay, and, passing on the other side 
of the election board, he drops his ballot, properly folded, 
into the ballot box. 

If a voter desires to vote for a person whose name is not 
on the ballot, at a primary or regular election, he may write 
or paste his name in the blank space provided for that pur- 
pose. 

Any qualified citizen may challenge a person's right to 
vote. In case of a challenge the person desiring to vote is re- 
quired to prove that he is properly qualified before he is allowed 
to vote. 

If a voter declares to the judge that by reason of some dis- 
ability he desires assistance in marking his ballot, the judge 
allows him to select a qualified voter to assist him in preparing 
his ballot. 

No person may electioneer or solicit votes within the elec- 
tion room; and a voter must not allow his ballot to be seen with 
the intention of showing how he voted. 

After the polls are closed, only the election officers re- 
main within the guard rail and at once proceed to count 
the votes within full view of any other persons in the room. 
When the votes are counted, the result must be announced 
to the citizens present and a statement showing the number 
of votes received by each candidate must be posted on 
the door of the election house for the information of the 
public. 



Bribery and corruption hi 

The ballot box containing the tickets and other papers 
shall be put in the safe keeping of some person designated by 
the court of common pleas, or, where no such person is desig- 
nated by the court, it is delivered to the nearest justice of the 
peace, to be kept by this person until needed for the next 
election. In cities it is deposited with the mayor. 

The judge of election must deliver the returns to the proper 
official before 2 p.m., on the day following the election if the dis- 
tance to the county seat is within twelve miles by wagon road 
or twenty-four miles by railroad; before 12 m. on the second 
day after the election, if the distance is greater. The returns 
of national, State, county, and city elections are taken to the 
prothonotary ; of township and borough elections, to the clerk 
of the court of quarter sessions. When the returns directed 
to be delivered to the prothonotary are received by him, the 
judges of the court of common pleas compute the returns and 
when their work is completed the prothonotary sends a copy 
of these final returns to the Secretary of the Commonwealth. 

Contested Elections. The General Assembly has classified 
contested elections as follows: 

1. The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor. 

2. Presidential electors and all State officers (except 
Governor and Lieutenant-Governor) who are elected by the 
voters of the State at large. 

3. Judges of the courts of record other than judges of the 
Supreme Court. 

4. All other officers except members of the General As- 
sembly. 

For contested elections of the first class see Article IV. 
Contested elections of the second class are tried and determined 
by the court of common pleas of Dauphin County ; of the judges 
of judicial districts, before the court oE common pleas of the 
county in which the person returned as elected resides; of 
county and township officers, by the court of quarter sessions 
of the county in which the election was held. 

Bribery and Corruption. Any person who gives or 
offers a bribe of any kind or who receives a bribe is subject 
to the penalties prescribed in Article VIII, Sections 8 and 
9, of the Constitution; and besides these, various penalties 



112 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

are prescribed by law. Heavy penalties are also provided 
for violation of the election laws. 

Questions Requiring Reference to the Constitution, i. What 
parts of Article VIII are inoperative ? 

2. What causes of disfranchisement are mentioned in 
Article VIII, Sections 8 and 9? 

3. How may a person be disqualified to hold any office 
under the Commonwealth? Art. VI, Sec. 3; Art. VIII, Sec. 
9; Art. IX, Sec. 14; Art. XII, Sec. 3. 

4. How may the right to an office be forefeited ? Art. II, 
Sec. 6; Art. V, Sec. 19; Art. VI, Sec. 3; Art. VIII, Sec. 15. 

5. In a contested election, may a person be required to 
testify against himself? Art. VIII, Sec. 10. 

6. In what case may women vote in Pennsylvania? 
Art. X, Sec, 3. 

Other References in the Constitution. Art. I, Sec. 5. 



ARTICLE IX. 
Taxation and Finance. 

State Taxes. The General Assembly has the power to 
pass laws to levy and collect taxes ; but all taxes must be 
uniform, on the same class of subjects. If possible the 
Assembly avoids levying a tax on real estate and such a 
tax has not been levied for many years. 

All unnaturalized foreign-born persons who have re- 
sided in Pennsylvania one whole year are subject to the 
payment of all classes of taxes except a poll tax assessed 
as a voting qualification. 

The income of the State derived from taxation is classified 
as follows: 

I. Taxes received directly from the taxables. The rate 
varies from three mills to five per cent. 



STATE TAXES I13 

1. Tax on the capital stock of corporations and various 
partnerships. 

2. Tax on county, municipal, borough, and corporate 
loans. 

3. Tax on the gross receipts of transportation, transmis- 
sion, and electric light companies. 

4. Tax on the stock of banks and savings institutions. 

5. Tax on the gross premiums of insurance companies. 

6. Tax on the net income of brokers and private bankers. 

7. Tax on the matured shares of building and loan asso- 
ciations. 

8. Tax on the gross receipts of notaries public in Phila- 
delphia County. 

II. Taxes received from officers collecting State taxes. 

1. State tax on personal property. — This consists 
mainly of a tax of four mills on money on interest. It is col- 
lected by the collectors of the county tax. 

2. Tax on inheritance. — A direct inheritance tax of 
two per cent is levied on all personal property exceeding $5000 
of an estate inherited by will or otherwise. A collateral in- 
heritance tax of five per cent is levied on property inherited 
by any persons except direct ancestors or direct descendants, 
legally adopted children, and daughters-in-law of the person 
from whom the property is inherited. Inheritance taxes are 
collected by the registers of wills. 

3. Licenses. — Merchants and other business men pay 
a mercantile license, collected by mercantile appraisers. 

The State receives twenty-five per cent of the regular 
liquor licenses and all of the additional license tax imposed 
by the act of Assembly approved March 29, 1907. The retail 
liquor license in cities of the first and second classes is $1000 
and $100 additional; in cities of the third class, $500 and $50 
additional; in boroughs, $200 and $50 additional; in town- 
ships, $100 and $25 additional. Proprietors of theaters, cir- 
cuses, and menageries are also required to pay a license. These 
licenses are paid to the treasurer of the county. 

4. Tax on writs, wills, and similar papers. 

5. Tax on fees of office. 

United States property in the State, churches, hospitals, 
school houses, colleges, courthouses, and public buildings and 
grounds in general are exempt from some or all taxes; but no 



114 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

property not used for public purposes shall be exempt from 
taxation. 

The Public Debt* The General Assembly may enact 
laws authorizing the borrowing of money by the State; but 
all these laws must specify the purpose for which the money 
is borrowed and the money borrowed may not be used for 
any other purpose. Money is borrowed by issuing bonds. 

Money may be borrowed only for the following pur- 
poses : 

i. To supply casual deficiencies of revenue. 

2. To repel invasions, suppress insurrections, and de- 
fend the State in war. 

3. To pay existing debt. 

A debt created to supply deficiencies in revenue shall 
never exceed $1,000,000. 

The Sinking Fund is a sum of money set aside and 
maintained for the purpose of paying the public debt of the 
State. It must be sufficient to pay the interest of the debt 
and to reduce the principal at least $250,000 each year. 
The debt of the State is at present very nearly covered 
by the sinking fund. 

Receipts and Expenditures of the State. Nearly all 
the receipts of the State are derived from taxes levied 
by the State, from fines for the violation of game, fish, 
pure food, and other laws, and from interest on State de- 
posits. 

The expenditures consist mainly of salaries of State 
officers, expenses for the maintenance of public buildings, 
appropriations for schools, hospitals, and charitable insti- 
tutions, and for the payment of the interest and principal of 
the public debt. 

The debt of a county, city, borough, township, school 
district, or other municipality shall never exceed seven per 



EDUCATION II5 

cent of the assessed value of the taxable property; and no 
debt greater than two per cent of the assessed valuation 
can be created without the assent of the voters given at a 
public election. 

Questions Requiring Reference to the Constitution. 1. May 
the State assume the debt of a county, city, borough, or 
township? x\rt, IX, Sec. 9. 

2. What provisions must a county, township, or other 
municipality make for the payment of a debt ? Art. IX, Sec. 10. 

3. What revenue shall be placed in the sinking fund? 
Art. IX, Sec. 11, 12. 

4. For what purpose besides paying the public debt may 
the sinking fund possibly be used? Art. IX, Sec. 11. 

5. May the public money be used by an officer of the 
State for private purposes? Art. IX, Sec. 14. 



ARTICLE X. 

Education. 

The State Constitution provides for the education of all 
children of the State over six years of age and enjoins 
upon the General Assembly to provide for the maintenance 
of an efficient system of public schools. 

The Public School System. The Swedes had schools 
in Pennsylvania before Penn's arrival; but the foundation 
of the public schools of the State was laid by William Penn 
and the Assembly in 1683, when a law was enacted which, 
in some respects, was two hundred years ahead of the times, 
since it provided not only for universal education under the 
supervision of the government but also for industrial and 
compulsory education. 

This law provided "That all persons in this Province and 
Territories thereof, having children, and all guardians and 
trustees of orphans, shall cause such to be instructed in reading 



Il6 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

and writing, so that they may be able to read the Scriptures 
and to write by the time they attain to twelve years of age; 
and that they be taught some useful trade or skill, that the poor 
may work to live, and the rich if they become poor may not 
want; of which every County Court shall take care." A fine 
of five pounds for every child was made the penalty for 
neglecting to obey the provisions of the law. 

Most of the earlier schools were sectarian schools and 
the teacher usually was the minister or his assistant, but 
separate schools were soon established. There was such 
decided opposition to the education of children at public 
expense that before 1834 most of the schools were pay 
schools. 

In 1834 the free school law was passed, but each dis- 
trict was allowed to decide by an election whether the law 
should be adopted or not. The last district in the State 
accepted the law in 1874. The free textbook law w r as 
passed in 1893 and a compulsory education law in 1895. 

School Districts. Each city, borough, incorporated 
town, and township constitutes a separate school district. 
There are four classes of school districts. 

School districts having a population of 500,000 or more 
are school districts of the first class; those having a popu- 
lation of 30,000 to 500,000 are school districts of the 
second class; those having a population of 5000 to 30,000 
are school districts of the third class; and those having 
a population less than 5000 are school districts of the 
fourth class. 

Independent school districts, in which the people pay their 
own school expenses, may be established by the court of com- 
mon pleas after petition to the court of a majority of the taxable 
inhabitants. 

School Officials. The care and supervision of the 
public schools are entrusted to a State Board of Education, 



SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 117 

a Superintendent of Public Instruction, county and dis- 
trict superintendents and assistant superintendents, boards 
of school directors, supervising principals, and teachers. 

The State Board of Education consists of seven mem- 
bers. The Superintendent of Public Instruction is ex- 
officio a member and is president of the board. The six 
other members are appointed by the Governor with the 
advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate, for a term 
of six years, one being appointed each year. Their 
term begins on the first day of July. Three of the mem- 
bers shall be successful educators of high standing, con- 
nected with the public school system of the State. They 
receive no compensation other than necessary expenses. 
Among the powers and duties of the State Board of Edu- 
cation are the following: 

To recommend legislation for the public schools to the 
Governor and the General Assembly. 

To inspect and require reports from the educational 
work in schools supported wholly or partly by the State 
and not supervised by public school authorities. 

To encourage and promote agricultural education, 
manual training, domestic science, and other vocational 
and practical education. 

To prescribe rules for sanitary equipment and inspec- 
tion of school buildings. 

To take other action deemed necessary to promote the 
physical and moral welfare of the school children. 

The Superintendent of Public Instruction is appointed 
by the Governor with the advice and consent of two- 
thirds of the Senate, for a term of four years. His salary 
is $5000 per annum. 

He is the head of the educational department of the 
Commonwealth and as such he renders decisions and inter- 



1 1 8 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

pretations of the school law and gives advice and infor- 
mation to school officers and citizens concerning school 
affairs. He shall submit an annual report to the General 
Assembly, and sign all orders on the State Treasurer for 
the payment of money to district treasurers. 

He commissions the superintendents of schools and 
may remove them for neglect of duty, incompetency, or im- 
morality. 

He shall prepare suitable blanks and forms for reports 
and other papers required by law, shall prescribe minimum 
courses of study, and shall classify the high schools of the 
State. 

He shall appoint two deputy Superintendents of Public 
Instruction, an expert assistant in agricultural education, 
an expert assistant in industrial education, an expert as- 
sistant in drawing, and four inspectors of high schools. 

The Superintendent of Public Instruction is 

The following is a list of the Superintendents of Common 
Schools and Superintendents of Public Instruction of Pennsyl- 
vania: 

Henry C. Hitchcock — 1857-1860. 

Thomas H. Burrowes — 1860-1863. 

Charles R. Coburn — 1863-1866. 

James P. Wickersham — 1866-1881. 

E. E. Higbee — 1 881-1890. 

D. J. Waller — 1890-1893. 

Nathan C. Schaeffer — 1893- 

County Superintendents are elected by the school 
directors, by viva voce vote, on the second Tuesday in 
April, a majority being required to elect. The term is 
four years and begins on the first Monday in May. 

The county superintendent has supervision of the 
public schools of the entire county except in cities and in 
those boroughs and townships which have their own su- 



COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS Iig 

perintendents of schools. He is the head of the educational 
department of the county. 

He holds examinations of applicants for teachers in 
the public schools and grants certificates to such as are 
properly qualified. 

It is his duty to visit the schools as often as practicable. 
He gives advice to teachers and endeavors to improve the 
educational affairs of the county in general. He shall re- 
port to the directors any inefficiency found in a school and 
shall inspect school grounds and buildings and report to the 
directors any violations of the lav/. He shall see that the 
branches required by law are taught in each district and 
shall make an annual report to the Superintendent of Pub- 
lic Instruction. 

Once in each year he is required to hold a county 
teacher's institute. Any districts having their own su- 
perintendent and employing not less than forty teachers 
may hold a separate teacher's institute. 

The new school code of 191 1 provides that the first elec- 
tion for county superintendent under this law is to take place 
on the first Tuesday in May, 19 14, the person elected to serve 
until the first Monday in May, 191 8. 

No person is eligible to the office of county, district, or 
assistant superintendent unless he holds a college or Normal 
School diploma or a teacher's state certificate, and unless he 
has a good moral character and has had successful experience 
in teaching within three years or successful experience as a 
superintendent of schools, but serving as a superintendent at 
the time of his election shall be deemed a sufficient test of 
qualifications. 

The salary received by the county superintendent from the 
State shall not be less than $1500 nor more than $2000 per 
year. The convention of directors electing him may, however, 
vote him a larger salary, but the increase must be paid out of 
the school fund appropriated for the school districts of the 
county. 

A vacancy in the office of county superintendent is filled 



J 20 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

by appointment by the Superintendent of Public Instruction for 
the remainder of the term. If objections are made to the elec- 
tions of a county superintendent they are investigated by the 
Superintendent of Public Instruction and if found valid he 
appoints a county superintendent for the term. 

The oath of the county superintendent must be adminis- 
tered to him by a judge of common pleas or by the Superintend- 
ent of Public Instruction. 

Assistant County Superintendents may be appointed 
by the county superintendent, for his term of office, upon 
nomination by the county superintendent to the five officers 
of the school directors' association and the confirmation by 
a majority vote of these officers. 

Every county superintendent having more than 200 schools 
under his supervision shall have an assistant county superin- 
tendent; and he shall have an additional assistant superin- 
tendent for each additional 200 schools up to 800. Beyond 
this number he shall have an additional assistant for every 
additional 400 schools or fraction thereof. 

A District Superintendent shall be elected by the direc- 
tors in every district of the first and second classes and may 
be elected in districts of the third class, for a term of four 
years. Such assistant district superintendents may be 
elected as the board deems wise. 

The directors of third and fourth class districts having 
no district superintendent may elect a supervising prin- 
cipal for a term not exceeding three years. 

School Directors, Number, Term, and Election. The 
term of school directors is six years. 

School districts of the first class have fifteen school 
directors. They are appointed in October, by the judges 
of the court of common pleas, five being appointed every 
second year. Their term begins on the second Monday in 
November. The board of directors in first-class districts 
is called the board of public education. Each first-class 



SCHOOL DIRECTORS 121 

district is divided into ward districts and each of these 
ward districts elects seven school visitors. 

In districts of the second, third, and fourth classes the 
directors are elected at large by the voters of the district 
at the municipal election. Their terms of office begin on 
the first Monday in December. 

School districts of the second class have nine directors, 
three being chosen every second year. 

School districts of the third class have seven directors, 
two being chosen at two succeeding municipal elections 
and three at the third election. 

School districts of the fourth class have five directors, 
two being chosen at two succeeding municipal elections 
and one at the third election. 

In independent school districts of any class the direc- 
tors are appointed by the judge of common pleas, in 
November, and their term begins on the first Monday in 
December. 

If two or more candidates receive a tie vote they shall 
decide in such manner as they see fit who shall take the 
office and shall file the result with the secretary of the 
board of directors within twenty days after the election. 

Women not less than twenty-one years of age may be 
elected to any office connected with the public schools. 

(For conditions of ineligibility, see incompatible offices.) 

Vacancies. In districts of the first class and in inde- 
pendent districts a vacancy shall be filled by appointment 
by the court of common pleas for the unexpired term; in 
other districts, a vacancy shall be filled by a majority vote 
of the remaining members of the board within thirty days 
and the person elected to the vacancy shall serve until 
the first Monday in December after the first municipal 
election occurring more than thirty days after his election. 

Qualifications. Any person may be elected a school 
director who is a citizen of the State, at least twenty-one 



122 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

years of age, of good moral character, and who has been a 
resident of the district for at least one year preceding the 
election. 

Meetings and Organization. In school districts of the 
first class, the school year begins on the first day in Janu- 
ary and in other school districts on the first Monday in 
July. 

In each district the board organizes on the day the terms 
of the directors begin. If new members of the board have 
not taken the oath before some justice or other person em- 
powered to administer oaths, the temporary president 
chosen for the purpose of organization may administer 
the oath. 

In each school district the directors shall elect a president, 
vice-president, secretary, and treasurer. The president and 
vice-president shall be chosen from their members. In first 
and second class districts the secretary and treasurer shall 
not be members of the board and in first-class districts the city 
treasurer shall be treasurer of the school board. In third and 
fourth class districts the secretary and treasurer may be mem- 
bers of the board, but both offices shall not be held by the same 
person. 

The board of directors may appoint a solicitor, clerks, and 
such other appointees or employees as it may deem proper, at 
salaries fixed by the board. 

The board shall meet in regular meeting at least once 
every two months during the school term. 

Duties. The school directors are at the head of the 
educational department of the township and in this capac- 
ity they elect teachers for the schools and fix their salaries, 
build and repair school houses, provide school supplies, 
fix the length of the school term, arrange the course of 
study, and decide upon a series of text books. One or 
more of them shall visit each school in the district at least 
once each month except in districts having district super- 
intendents or supervising principals. 



TEACHERS 1 23 

They must provide a sufficient number of common 
schools for the accommodation of persons between six 
and twenty-one years of age. 

They may adopt reasonable rules and regulations for 
the management of school affairs, the conduct of super- 
intendents and teachers and the management of athletics 
and games. They shall keep the school grounds in a neat 
and sanitary condition and shall provide and maintain a 
proper number of shade trees. 

In districts of the second, third, and fourth classes, text- 
books adopted must be continued in use for at least five years. 

The plans for a new school building must be submitted 
to the State Board of Education. In every schoolroom the 
light area must equal at least twenty per cent of the floor space 
and there shall be not less than fifteen square feet of floor space 
and two hundred cubic feet of air space to each pupil. 

School directors serve without pay, but the board may 
grant a salary to the secretary and the treasurer. 

Every four years the directors of the county meet in con- 
vention to elect a county superintendent. They are annually 
called together by the county superintendent in the convention 
of the School Directors' Association. The association elects 
a president, two vice-presidents, a secretary, and a treasurer. 

Teachers* Every teacher must be of good moral 
character and must be at least eighteen years of age. 
Teachers of merit and experience, holding State certificates 
which exempt them from further examinations, may be 
elected for any length of time not exceeding three years. 

Xo teacher shall be employed unless he receives a vote 
of three-fourths of the board, who is related to any director 
as father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, son, 
daughter, step-son, step-daughter, grandchild, nephew, 
niece, first cousin, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, uncle, or 
aunt. 

A teacher mav be dismissed bv the directors, after a 



124 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

hearing, for immorality, incompetency, intemperance, 
cruelty, negligence, or a violation of the school law. 

Any teacher who, unless released by the board of direc- 
tors, refuses or neglects to teach through the term, is dis- 
qualified from teaching in any public school in the State 
for the rest of the term. 

No person shall teach more than five school terms on a 
provisional certificate. 

No certificate shall be granted to a person who has not 
presented a certificate from a physician that the applicant 
is neither mentally nor physically disqualified, by reason 
of tuberculosis or any other chronic or acute defect, from 
performing the duties of a teacher; nor to any person not 
of good moral character, or who habitually uses narcotic 
drugs, or intoxicating drinks as a beverage. 

Before beginning to teach, every holder of a permanent, 
special, or State certificate shall present it for registration 
to the proper superintendent. 

The minimum salary of teachers holding professional or 
State certificates and having taught successfully two years 
is $50 per month; of other teachers, $40 per month; but if 
the General Assembly appropriates the necessary money, 
the minimum salaries shall be $55 and $45 respectively. 

Attendance. Every child between the ages of six and 
twenty-one years and a resident of the school district may 
attend the public schools. Every child between the ages of 
eight and sixteen years must attend school during the entire 
term; but the directors may reduce the period of compul- 
sory attendance to not less than seventy per cent of the 
school term; and any child between the ages of fourteen 
and sixteen years, who has regular employment and holds 
a certificate as to age and ability to read and write the 
English language intelligently, is not compelled to attend 
school. 



STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS 12$ 

The board of directors of first, second, and third class 
districts shall appoint one or more attendance officers and 
fourth class districts may do so. These officers shall en- 
force the provisions concerning compulsory education. 

No children can be compelled to attend school at a dis- 
tance of over two miles unless free transportation is fur- 
nished. 

No person having tuberculosis of the lungs shall attend 
school or be employed in any school. 

School Term. The minimum school term in districts 
of the first and second classes is nine months; in districts 
of the third class, eight months; and in districts of the 
fourth class, seven months. 

No school shall be kept open on Saturday unless Mon- 
day is fixed by the directors as the weekly holiday, nor on 
Sunday, the Fourth of July, or Christmas, nor during the 
time of holding the teachers' institute. 

State Normal Schools. There are thirteen Normal 
School districts in the State. The object of these schools 
is the educating and training of young men and women 
to be teachers in the public schools of the State. They 
are under the management of eighteen trustees, nine elected 
by the stockholders and nine appointed by the Superin- 
tendent of Public Instruction. 

The State Board of Education is empowered to purchase 
the State Normal Schools of the State, with the consent of 
the stockholders and the approval of the Governor. Normal 
schools owned by the State shall be managed by a board of 
nine trustees, residents of the districts, appointed by the State 
Board of Education. 

The State examinations of students are conducted by a 
board of examiners appointed by the Superintendent of 
Public Instruction. Those who pass the examinations for 
graduation successfully receive a State Normal School Cer- 



126 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

tificate, entitling them to teach for two terms. After two 
years of successful teaching they are granted a State Nor- 
mal School Diploma, which entitles them to teach without 
further examination. The tuition of each student over 
seventeen years of age, who signs an agreement to teach 
two full terms in the common schools of the State and re- 
ceives regular instruction in pedagogy, is paid by the State. 

High Schools and Other Schools. High schools with a 
four years', a three years', and a two years' course are 
known respectively as high schools of the first, second, and 
third class. 

No new high school shall be established in districts of 
the fourth class without the consent of the Superintendent 
of Public Instruction and the County Superintendent. 

The school directors in every school district may also 
establish and maintain manual training schools, vocational 
schools, domestic science schools, agricultural schools, 
evening schools, kindergartens, libraries, museums, read- 
ing-rooms, gymnasiums, playgrounds, schools for the 
blind, deaf, and mentally deficient, truant schools, 
schools for adults, public lectures, and other schools and 
educational features that they may see proper to establish. 

The Pennsylvania State College, which was established in 
1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, and The 
State Forest Academy, established in 1903, are also under State 
supervision. 

Among other State schools and institutions at which in- 
struction is given are the Soldiers' Orphan Schools at Chester 
Springs and Uniontown; the Soldiers' Orphans' Industrial 
School, Scotland; the Pennsylvania Reform School, Morganza; 
the Pennsylvania Industrial Reformatory, Huntingdon; the 
State Institution for Feeble-Minded of Western Pennsylvania, 
Polk; and the Home for Training in Speech of Deaf Children 
before they are of School Age, Philadelphia. The State also 
provides and supports a school for the Cornplanter Indians of 
Warren County. 



THE STATE MILITIA 1 27 

Taxation and Appropriation. The Constitution pro- 
vides that the General Assembly shall appropriate not less 
than $1,000,000 annually to the public schools of the State. 

One-half of the State appropriation to the public schools is 
distributed on the basis of the number of regular teachers of the 
district and one-half on the number of children between six 
and sixteen years of age. The State appropriation, or a part 
of it, may be withheld for neglect or refusal to comply with 
certain provisions of the school law. No appropriation may 
be made for the use of a sectarian school. 

The school directors levy a school tax once each year. 
The rate of taxation in first class districts shall not be 
less than five nor more than six mills on the dollar; and it 
shall not exceed twenty mills in second class districts 
or twenty-five mills in third and fourth class districts. 
Districts of the second, third, and fourth classes shall also 
collect an occupation tax of not less than one dollar on each 
male resident or inhabitant. 

The directors in any school district may make provi- 
sion for a teachers' retirement fund. 

A State School Fund is established in which shall be 
placed eighty per cent of the net receipts and proceeds 
of State forest reservations, water-rights belonging to the 
Commonwealth, and real estate owned by the Common- 
wealth, but not used for State or other public purposes, 
and all other money or property which may in any manner 
be given to this fund. 

ARTICLE XL 

The Militia. 

The State Militia. The States do not keep standing 
bodies of troops in regular service, but each State has an 
organized militia and receives the encouragement of Con- 
gress in this respect. (See U. S. Const., Art. I, Sec. 10, 
Cl. 3). 



128 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

The Constitution of Pennsylvania provides that the free- 
men shall be armed, organized, and disciplined for defense 
when directed by law. The General Assembly shall make 
appropriations for maintaining the militia. The militia 
of Pennsylvania consists of organized militia and reserve 
militia. The organized militia is called the National 
Guard. There were 1,081,845 men subject to military 
duty in 1910. 

The National Guard of Pennsylvania. Composition. In 
time of peace the National Guard shall consist of not more 
than one hundred eighty companies of infantry, twelve troops 
of cavalry, five batteries of field artillery, four machine-gun 
companies, four companies of engineers, four signal corps 
companies, four hospital corps companies, sixteen regimental 
bands, and four ambulance companies. There shall not be 
more than one major-general or five brigadier-generals. In 
time of war, riot, or other times of danger the size of the 
organized militia may be increased. Enlistments in the 
National Guard are voluntary and for a period of three years; 
but no person shall be enlisted who is not more than eighteen 
years and less than forty-five years of age. The National 
Guard of Pennsylvania numbers 10,280 men (19 10). 

Officers. The officers are commissioned by the Governor 
for a term of five years. The Governor is Commander-in-chief. 

The division (the National Guard itself) is commanded by a 
Major- General, who is appointed by the Governor with the 
consent of the Senate. 

Each brigade is commanded by a Brigadier-General, ap- 
pointed like the Major- General. The National Guard has 
three brigades. 

Each regiment has one Colonel, one Lieutenant- Colonel, 
and not more than three Majors. These officers are elected 
by the commissioned officers of the companies of the regiment. 

Each company and troop has one Captain, one First Lieu- 
tenant, and one Second Lieutenant. A battery of artillery has a 
Captain, two First Lieutenants and one Second Lieutenant. 
These officers are elected by the non-commissioned officers and 
privates of the company except in the hospital corps, for which 
they are appointed by the commander-in-chief. 



PUBLIC OFFICERS 1 29 

Commissioned officers are retired at the age of sixty-four 
years; and they may be retired, on their own application to 
the Adjutant-General, after service of forty years as officer or 
soldier, or after serving continuously for ten years or fifteen 
years in the aggregate, as an officer. 

Service. The National Guard is of great service in 
suppressing riots or insurrections within the State. It is 
the most powerful agent of the State that may be used by 
the Governor in enforcing the law. When called into the 
service of the nation, it is also a powerful adjunct to the 
regular army of the United States. 

The various companies meet frequently for drill and 
practice and once a year the entire National Guard meets 
in a summer camp for practice, drill, and instruction. 

The Naval Force of the State of Pennsylvania. The 

State Naval Militia was established by the act of 1893. In 
time of peace the Naval Force shall not exceed one 
regiment of two naval battalions. 



ARTICLE XII. 

Public Officers. 

Officers for Whom Provision is made in the Constitu- 
tion. Let the student make a list of officers — 

1. For whose election to office the Constitution pro- 
vides. 

2. For whose appointment to office the Constitution 
provides. 

3. For whose succession to office the Constitution pro- 
vides. 

4. A list of the most important officers for whose elec- 
tion or appointment the Constitution does not directly pro- 
vide. 



130 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Incompatible Offices. Incompatibility. The following 
statements of incompatibility are taken from the State Constitu- 
tion and from various laws passed by the General Assembly: 

A United States officer, whether executive, legislative, or 
judicial, can not be justice of the peace, notary public, mayor, 
burgess, alderman, resident physician of the lazaretto, constable, 
election officer, or county controller. 

An officer of the United States, State, county, city, or an in- 
corporate district, whether in the legislative, executive, or 
judicial department, and a person who has within two months 
held any office under the United States, State, county, or city, 
except justices of the peace and militia officers, cannot be an 
election officer. 

A State officer receiving salary or fees can not be a member 
of Congress, a United States officer, or a district attorney. 

The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor can not be a mem- 
ber of Congress or hold any United States or other State office. 

A judge of any court in the State can not be a practising 
attorney, alderman, or notary public. 

A member of the General Assembly can not be district 
attorney, city councilman, member of Congress, or any United 
States or State officer, except attorney-at-law and in the militia. 

A county commissioner can not be a school director or a 
member of the board of health. 

A county treasurer can not be a judge, prothonotary, clerk 
of the courts, register of wills, recorder of deeds, county com- 
missioner, or coimty auditor. 

A county auditor can not be a guardian of the poor, prison 
inspector, controller of public schools, member of the board of 
health, or person employed in the sheriff's, commissioner's, or 
treasurer's office. 

A county controller can not be a county commissioner, 
county treasurer, prothonotary, clerk of the courts, register of 
wills, recorder of deeds, sheriff, district attorney, or chief clerk or 
deputy in one of these offices. 

A member of the board of health can not be any other 
officer except school director, constable, or election officer. 

An alderman and an attorney-at-law can not be prison 
inspector. 

Member of city councils, guardian of the poor, member of 
the board of health, and prison inspector are incompatible with 
each other. 



INCOMPATIBLE OFFICES 131 

A member of city councils can not be an officer chosen 
by councils or a city or county officer chosen by the 
people. 

A chief burgess can not hold any other borough office nor 
be a member of council. 

A justice of the peace can not be prothonotary, clerk of the 
courts, or associate judge. 

A township or borough auditor can not be a school director, 
constable, path -master, or commissioner of roads. 

A township commissioner can not hold another township 
office. 

A township treasurer can not be a school director, township 
commissioner, or township auditor. 

Any person legally convicted of exercising incompatible 
offices shall forfeit not less than $50 nor more than $500, one- 
half of which is applied to the support of the poor and one-half 
is given to the prosecutor. 

Ineligibility. Certain officers are declared by law ineligi- 
ble to certain other offices : 

A member of the General Assembly can not be appointed 
to a civil office of the State during his term. 

A judge, clerk of the courts, prothonotary, register of 
wills, recorder of deeds, county commissioner, or county 
auditor, is not eligible as county treasurer; and a county 
commissioner and a county auditor are not eligible as county 
treasurer for one year after the expiration of the term of office. 

A county treasurer is not eligible as county auditor for two 
years after going out of office. 

A United States officer is not eligible as county controller for 
one year after going out of office; and a county commissioner, 
county treasurer, prothonotary, register of wills, clerk of the 
courts, recorder of deeds, sheriff, district attorney, and their 
chief clerks or deputies, not for two years thereafter. 

A district attorney is not eligible to the General Assembly or 
any State office. 

A county commissioner is not eligible as a member of a 
board of health. 

An alderman or a practicing attorney is not eligible as a 
prison inspector. 

A member of city councils is not eligible to any office chosen 
bv councils. 



132 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

An election officer is not eligible to any office except that of 
election officer. 

A mayor, chief burgess, county commissioner, district 
attorney; city, borough, or township treasurer, city council- 
man, township commissioner, road supervisor, tax collector, 
comptroller, auditor, or constable, or any officer whatever who 
has been removed from office for malfeasance in office, shall not 
be eligible to the office of school director. 

Compatibility. In several instances the law states that 
two offices may be held at the same time by one person: 

A township treasurer may be treasurer of the school board. 

A school director, constable, or election officer may be a 
member of the board of health. 

A justice of the peace may be an election officer. 

Articles XIII and XIV are discussed under county gov- 
ernment and Article XV under city government. Article 

XVI makes provisions concerning corporations and Article 

XVII concerning railroads and canals. 



ARTICLE XVIII, 

Amendments, 

How Made. Amendments to the State Constitution 
may be made as follows: 

1. An amendment may originate in either house of the 
General Assembly and is proposed by a joint resolution 
agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each 
house. The vote must be taken by yeas and nays. 

2. The proposed amendment must be published by the 
Secretary of the Commonwealth, three months before the 
next general election, in at least two newspapers in every 
county in which so many newspapers are published. 

3. The resolution proposing the amendment must 
again be passed by the next General Assembly. 



AMENDMENTS 1 33 

4. The proposed amendment must again be published. 

5. It must be submitted to the voters of the State, at 
least three months after its second proposal by the General 
Assembly, to be ratified or rejected. If it receives a ma- 
jority of the popular votes it is a part of the Constitution. 

No amendment or amendments may be submitted 
oftener than once in five years. When two or more are 
submitted at one time they shall be voted on separately. 

Twelve amendments have been added to the State Con- 
stitution, three on November 5, 1901, and nine on Novem- 
ber 2, 1909. 



APPENDIX 

The National Government in the State. The student 
should explain each of the following topics in its relation 
to the State of Pennsylvania or in its connection with the 
State government : 

i. Presidential Electors. — The State Electoral Col- 
lege. 

2. United States Senators. 

3. United States Representatives. — Congressional 
Districts. 

4. United States Judicial Circuits and Districts. — 
United States Judges. — United States Courts. 

5. Postoffices. 

6. Custom-houses. — There are custom-houses at Phil- 
adelphia, Erie, and Pittsburgh. 

7. The Subtreasury at Philadelphia. — The Mint. 

8. National Banks. 

q. Internal Revenue. — The United States is divided 
into districts and a collector is appointed by the President 
for each district. 

10. Immigration. — An immigrant station, in charge 
of a Commissioner of Immigration, is established at Phila- 
delphia. 

The States and Territories may appoint Immigration 
Agents to represent them at the various immigrant stations for 
the purpose of informing the immigrants of the special induce- 
ments offered to aliens to settle in the State or Territory repre- 
sented by the agent. 

1 1 . Quarantine. — State quarantine station at Marcus 
Hook, Delaware County. Further protection afforded by 

135 



136 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

United States quarantine stations at Delaware Breakwater 
and Reedy Island. 

12. The Weather Service. — The United States 
Weather Bureau has regular stations at Philadelphia, 
Pittsburgh, Erie, and Harrisburg; and in nearly every 
county there is one or more volunteer observers. 

13. The Carlisle Indian School. — This school was 
opened on October 5, 1879, w ^h 82 Sioux boys and girls 
as pupils. 

14. The National Military Park at Gettysburg. — 
Established in 1895, as a military park for the training of 
United States and State soldiers. 

15. The Philadelphia Navy Yard. 

16. The Life-Saving Service. There is a life-saving 
station on the north side entrance of Erie harbor. 

Legal Holidays. The following days are legal holi- 
days and half -holidays in Pennsylvania: January 1, New 
Year's Day; February 12, Lincoln's Birthday; February 
22, Washington's Birthday; Good Friday; May 30, 
Memorial Day; July 4, Independence Day; the first 
Monday in September, Labor Day; October 12, Columbus 
Day; the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 
General Election Day; Thanksgiving Day; December 25, 
Christmas; and every Saturday from 12 o'clock noon to 
12 o'clock midnight. 

Whenever any of these dates happen to fall on a Sun- 
day, the following Monday shall be observed as a holiday. 
Banks are allowed to do business on Saturday afternoons 
if their directors vote to do so. 

The State Capitol. In 1729 the Assembly of Pennsyl- 
vania passed a resolution to build a State House. It 
was commenced in 1732, but not fully completed till 1745. 
A part of it was occupied by the Assembly in 1735. Pre- 



THE STATE FLAG 



137 



vious to the building of the State House, the Assembly of 
Pennsylvania met in private houses, in a school-house, and 
in a Quaker meeting-house. 

The first capitol at Harrisburg was built in 1819 to 1821 . 
Before the completion of this building the State legislature 
met in the Dauphin County court house. The capitol was 
destroyed by fire on February 2, 1897. A new capitol was 
commenced in 1898, which was occupied by the General 
Assembly in 1899, but was not fully completed till 1906. 

The State Flag, The banner of the Penns was never 
unfurled in Pennsylvania. The flag known as the provin- 
cial flag of Pennsylvania was designed by Franklin and was 
carried for the first time by the Associators, as the provin- 
cial militia was called, at the time of King George's War. 




(By courtesy of the publishers, the illustration of the Provincial Flag 
was modeled after a similar illustration found in Dr. ShimmelPs History 
of Pennsylvania.) 



^ 



THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 



The State Flag adopted by act of June 13, 1907, is de- 
scribed in the first two sections of the act as follows: 

" Section i. Be it enacted, etc., That the flag to be 
known as the official flag of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 
shall be of blue, same color as the blue field in the flag of the 
United States, and of the following dimensions and design; 
to wit, The length, or height, of the staff to be nine feet, includ- 




ing brass spear-head and ferrule; the fly of the said flag to 
be six feet two inches, and to be four feet six inches on the 
staff; in the center of the flag there shall be embroidered in 
silk the same on both sides of the flag the coat-of-arms of the 
Commonwealth of Pennysylvania, in proportionate size; the 
edges to be trimmed with knotted fringe of yellow silk, two and 
one-half inches wide; a cord, with tassels, to be attached to 



STATE LAWS OF GENERAL INTEREST 1 39 

the staff at the spear-head, to be eight feet six inches long, and 
composed of white and blue silk strands. 

"Section 2. The flag of the Commonwealth of Pennsyl- 
vania to be carried by regiments of the National Guard of 
Pennsylvania shall be the same as the flag described in the first 
section of this act, with the addition of tw r o scrolls, in red, one 
above and one below^ the coat-of-arms of the Commonwealth; 

in the upper scroll the inscription/ , Regiment Infantry,' and 

in the lower scroll the inscription, 'National Guard of Pennsyl- 
vania. J " 

Some State Laws of General Interest. 1. Any person 
who wilfully pollutes, damages, or tears down a United 
States flag placed on any building or grounds or along any 
highway, public or private, or who uses the flag for advertising 
purposes, may be punished by a fine not exceeding $500 or im- 
prisonment not exceeding six months or both. No red flag 
intended to represent anarchy shall be carried in a public pro- 
cession. 

2. For wilfully giving a false alarm of fire, a penalty may 
be imposed not exceeding a fine of $100 or imprisonment for 
one year, or both. 

3. If any person is boisterous, or makes a noise, or uses 
improper language, by w T hich he disturbs the peace or annoys 
persons residing in the locality, or traveling on a raihvay car, or 
visiting a park or picnic ground, he may be fined not more than 
$10, and in default of payment he may be committed to jail for 
not more than thirty days. 

4. If any person injures or cuts dowm a tree growing along 
a public road or negligently allows his horse or other domestic 
animal to injure such tree, he may be fined $5 for each tree 
injured or cut down; and for wilfully, negligently, or mali- 
ciously injuring, destroying, or removing a tree growing on the 
land of another, without his consent, he may be fined not ex- 
ceeding S500 and imprisoned not exceeding three months. 

5. A fine not exceeding $10 may be imposed on a person 
for throwing waste paper or other rubbish into any street in the 
State or for scattering the contents of any receptacle contain- 
ing ashes, garbage, or other rubbish. 

6. Any person furnishing cigarettes or cigarette paper, 
in any manner whatever, to any person under twenty-one years 
of age, may be fined from $100 to $300. 



140 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 
PRESIDENTS AND GOVERNORS OF PENNSYLVANIA 

CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY 

Benjamin Franklin Sept., 1776 

PRESIDENTS OF THE SUPREME EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 

Thomas Wharton, Jr. (died May 23, 1778) March 5, 1777 

George Bryan, Vice-Pres., Acting President May 23, 1778 

Joseph Reed Dec. 1, 1778 

William Moore Nov. 14, 1781 

John Dickinson Nov. 7, 1782 

Benjamin Franklin Oct. 18, 1785 

Thomas Mifflin Nov. 5, 1788 

GOVERNORS OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Thomas Mifflin Dec. 21, 1790 William F. Packer .Jan. 19, 1858 

Thomas McKean ...Dec. 17, 1799 Andrew G. Curtin .Jan. 15, 1861 

Simon Snyder Dec. 20, 1808 John W. Geary ...Jan* 15, 1867 

William Findlay ...Dec. 16, 1817 John F. Hartranft .Jan. 21, 1873 

Joseph Hiester Dec. 19, 1820 John F. Hartranft -Jan. 18, 1876 

John A. Shulze Dec. 16, 1823 Henry M. Hoyt ...Jan. 21, 1879 

George Wolf Dec. 15, 1829 Robert E. Pattison Jan. 16, 1883 

Joseph Ritner Dec. 15, 1835 James A. Beaver ..Jan. 18, 1887 

David R. Porter Jan. 15, 1839 Robert E. Pattison Jan. 20, 1891 

Francis R. Shunk ..Jan. 21, 1845 Daniel H. Hastings Jan. 15, 1895 

(Resigned July 9, 1848.) William A. Stone ..Jan. 17, 1899 

Wm. F. Johnston * -July 26, 1848 S. W. Pennypacker . Jan. 20, 1903 

William Bigler Jan. 20, 1852 Edwin S. Stuart ...Jan. 15, 1907 

James Pollock Jan. 16, 1855 John K. Tener . . . Jan. 17, 1911 

interregnum. Johnston did not take the oath of office till July 26, 
1848. 



COUNTY GOVERNMENT 

References in the State Constitution. Art. XIII; Art. 
XIV; Art. I, Sec. 6, 7, 9-11, 13-16; Art. Ill, Sec. 7, 21, 
23, 32; Art. IV, Sec. 8; Art. V, Sec. 1, 4-9, 15, 17-20, 
22-27; Art. VI, Sec. 4; Art. VII, Sec. 1 ; Art. VIII, Sec. 2, 
10, 17; Art. IX, Sec. 1. 

Nature of a County. A county is a political division of 
of a State. 

Practically everything that the officers of a county or 
township may do must first be authorized by a State or 
national law. In this way the county and township serve 
as mediums for carrying out the details of State govern- 
ment and giving all people, even in the remotest regions, 
equal benefits of the government. A county, for example, 
is used as a district in electing State Representatives, and 
senatorial and judicial districts are also based on county 
lines. 

County is of French origin and was introduced into 
England by the Normans. Before that time a county was 
known in England as a shire, meaning a share or part of the 
country and originally consisting of several hundreds combined 
for purposes of government. 

Formation of New Counties. The State of Pennsyl- 
vania is divided into sixty-seven counties. The city or 
town in which the court-house and county officers are lo- 
cated is called the county seat. 

New counties can be established only by an act of the 

General Assembly; but no new county may be formed and 

no old county reduced in size so as to have an area of less 

141 



142 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

than 400 square miles or a population of less than 20,000 
inhabitants, and in the formation of a new county no divid- 
ing line may pass within ten miles of the county seat of 
the county to be divided. 

In 1682, the first counties in the State, Philadelphia, 
Chester, and Bucks, were organized by William Penn. 

County Officers. The most important county officers 
found in some or all of the counties, are the follow- 
ing. The county commissioners, the sheriff, the district 
attorney, the treasurer, the county auditors or the county 
controller, the directors of the poor, the prison inspectors, 
the county surveyor, the county superintendent, the coroner, 
the jury commissioners, the recorder of deeds, the register 
of wills, the prothonotary, and the clerk of the courts. 
Many of these officers are allowed to appoint clerks, assist- 
ants, and deputies and a few minor officials are appointed 
by the commissioners. County officers, with the excep- 
tion of the county superintendent, are commissioned by 
the Governor through the office of the Secretary of the 
Commonwealth. 

The so-called county judges are actually district judges 
of the State. They are part of the State's judicial system 
and are paid by the State. 

How Chosen. All the officers mentioned above, except 
the county superintendent, are elected by the voters of the 
county by ballot on municipal election day. In Phila- 
delphia the prothonotary is appointed by the judges. 

Qualifications. No person is eligible to any county 
office who has not been a citizen and inhabitant of the 
county for at least one year immediately preceding his elec- 
tion or appointment. District judges must be learned in 
the law. District attorneys must have been admitted to 
the bar at least two years. 

Term. The county officers elected by the people serve 



VACANCIES IN COUNTY OFFICES 1 43 

for four years and the term begins on the first Monday 
in January. The term of the district judges is ten years, 
beginning on the first Monday in January; of the asso- 
ciate judges, six years, beginning on the first Monday in 
January. 

The sheriff and the treasurer cannot succeed themselves 
and the jury commissioners can have only two successive 
terms. 

Vacancies. Vacancies in county offices are filled as fol- 
lows: 

In the office of commissioner and auditor, by the appoint- 
ment by the court of common pleas of a voter who voted for 
the officer whose place is to be filled. 

In the office of prothonotary, recorder of deeds, and register 
of wills, by appointment by the Governor till the next election, 
when the voters shall elect a successor for three years. In 
case of death, before entering upon the duties of the office, the 
Governor shall appoint a person to serve until the first Monday 
in January following the next election occurring two or more 
months after the happening of the vacancy. 

In the office of district attorney, by appointment by the 
court of common pleas until the next election coming at least 
thirty days after the beginning of the vacancy, the person then 
elected to serve four years. 

In the office of coroner, by appointment by the Governor 
till the next election. 

In the office of treasurer, by appointment by the county 
commissioners for the remainder of the term. 

In the office of jury commissioner, by appointment by the 
president judge for the remainder of the term. 

In the office of sheriff, controller, judge, and clerk of the 
courts, by an appointment by the Governor till the first Mon- 
day in January following the next election occurring two or 
more months after the happening of the vacancy (Art. IV, Sec. 
8, Const, of Pa.). In the absence of the sheriff, or while a 
vacancy exists, the duties of the sheriff are performed by the 
coroner. 

In the office of county surveyor, prison inspector, and 
director of the poor, by appointment by the court of quarter 
sessions until the next eleciton. 



144 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Oath of Office. All county officers are required to take an 
oath before some person authorized to administer oaths. These 
oaths are filed in the office of the prothonotary. 

The Three Departments of Government in the County. 

The county has no distinct legislative department. 
The commissioners, however, in a very small degree, have 
some kind of legislative power in the way of making 
regulations concerning public property. 

The sheriff is the head of the executive department 
and the court of common pleas is the head of the judicial 
department. 

The county officers and county governments vary some- 
what in different counties. Much of the special legislation 
enacted before the present constitution went into operation is 
still in force. 

County officials are required to furnish information con- 
tained in their offices, on application, to the head of any de- 
partment of the State government. 

The County Commissioners. Each county elects three 
county commissioners. No person is allowed to vote for 
more than two, so that one of them may belong to the 
minority party. 

The county commissioners have charge of the public 
property and manage the business interests of the county. 
They exercise supervision over the court house, jail, alms- 
house, and other public buildings and erect and repair 
county bridges. They provide county officers with offices 
at the county seat. To purchase land or erect new build- 
ings they must have the approval of two successive grand 
juries and of the court of quarter sessions. 

They are authorized by acts of Assembly to establish a 
work-house for certain classes of convicted criminals; to pro- 



THE COUNTY COMMISSIONER 14$ 

vide a marker for the grave of any soldier or sailor; and they 
are required to appoint one or more persons in each township 
and ward to see that destitute soldiers and sailors receive decent 
burial. For the purpose of encouraging agriculture they are 
authorized to pay to incorporated county agricultural associa- 
tions a sum of money equal to the premiums paid by the asso- 
ciation on products of the county, but not exceeding $1000; 
and no association shall receive such aid if it permits gambling 
on the grounds during its annual exhibit. 

They have practical control of the financial affairs of 
the county. To raise money they levy a county tax and in 
cases of necessity they may borrow a limited amount of 
money. They purchase supplies for the use of the county 
and authorize the county treasurer to pay bills against the 
county. In some counties, however, the directors of the 
poor and the prison inspectors purchase the supplies needed 
for their purposes. 

The commissioners furnish the ballots and a list of the 
voters to the election officers and provide suitable polling 
places. They also give instructions to assessors and may 
change the valuation of a person's property if he appeals 
to the commissioners against what he considers excessive 
valuation. 

The commissioners meet as a board, two of them being 
necessary to transact business. The county may sue or be 
sued through the commissioners. 

The county solicitor is appointed by the county commis- 
sioners to hold office during their term. He shall begin 
and prosecute suits brought by the county and defend suits 
brought against it and in general is the legal adviser of the 
commissioners. 

The mercantile appraiser also is appointed by the 
county commissioners. His term is one year. In Phila- 
delphia, however, five mercantile appraisers are appointed, 
for three years, by the Auditor- General and the City 
Treasurer. 



146 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

It is his duty to estimate the amount of business done 
by each merchant or dealer in the county and furnish the 
county treasurer with a classified list of merchants. This 
appraisement is the basis on which the State levies a license 
tax to be paid by merchants. 

The county commissioners may also appoint inspectors 
0] weights and measures, whose duty it is to test the correct- 
ness of weights and measures used by dealers in the county. 

The Sheriff. The sheriff is the chief executive officer 
of the county. 

It is his duty to preserve peace and order in the county. 
He has authority to make arrests and to suppress riots 
and disperse mobs. For this purpose he may deputize 
citizens of the county to assist him. This body of deputies 
is known as the posse comitatus. If the sheriff is unable, 
with this assistance, to quell the disturbance, he may ask 
the Governor to send the National Guard. 

He serves all writs and executes all orders of the court, 
both in civil and criminal matters. He has charge of 
prisoners while on trial. If they are convicted he takes 
them to jail or to the penitentiary; and if they are sen- 
tenced to capital punishment he executes them. 

He sells property for the payment of debts when an exe- 
cution or order to sell has been issued by the court. He 
also sells real estate for the payment of delinquent taxes. 

He must give notice of the general election, in three 
newspapers, at least ten days before the election. 

The District Attorney. The district attorney prosecutes 
persons charged with crime committed in the county. 
He draws up the indictments and lays them before 
the grand jury. At the trial he represents the Com- 
monwealth against the accused. He is therefore the at- 
torney representing the people in general in the effort to 



THE COUNTY CONTROLLER 1 47 

suppress crime and punish criminals. In a case in which 
the district attorney is personally interested, the Attorney- 
General of the State may appoint a lawver to take his 
place. 

The county detective is appointed by tne district at- 
torney. 

The County Treasurer. The county treasurer has 
charge of the public money of the county. He receives 
both the county and the State taxes, but money belonging 
to the State is paid quarterly by him to the State Treasurer. 
With the money belonging to the county he pays the 
county's bills on warrants drawn on him by the county 
commissioners or other officers authorized to do so. 

The County Auditors* Three auditors are elected in 
each county having a population less than 150,000, but 
no voter is allowed to vote for more than two of the three 
candidates. 

They audit the accounts of county officers handling 
public money. They investigate as to whether all money 
has been paid into the county treasury, examine all bills 
paid by the treasurer, and may disapprove of any payment 
which they think has been illegally made. 

The County Controller. Counties with a population of 
150,000 or more elect a controller instead of auditors; 
and on petition of twenty-five per cent of the voters, a 
controller may be chosen in smaller counties. 

He shall have general supervision and control of the 
fiscal affairs of the county and of the accounts and official 
acts of county officers handling public money. He scru- 
tinizes all bills and if he finds them legally due he certifies 
them to the commissioners and countersigns warrants 
drawn by the commissioners on the county treasury. 

He keeps an account of the receipts and expenditures 



148 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

of the county and has the custody of the bonds, contracts, 
and similar official documents of the county. 

The Directors of the Poor. In many of the smaller or 
or less populous counties township overseers of the poor are 
chosen to care for the paupers and the needy. In a few 
counties the commissioners act as poor directors. The 
majority of the counties of the State, however, have poor- 
houses or almshouses and elect three directors of the poor, 
two being chosen at one municipal election and one at the 
next municipal election. 

The board of poor directors supervises the manage- 
ment of the almshouse. They admit paupers as inmates 
when requested to do so by two justices of the peace, but 
children between two and sixteen years of age must be 
supported at some other place. Indigent persons dying 
in the county, whose bodies are unclaimed and are unfit 
for anatomical purposes, shall be buried by the poor 
directors or overseers at an expense not exceeding twenty 
dollars. 

The Prison Inspectors. In most of the counties the 
sheriff has charge of the jail and in some counties he even 
serves as prison warden, the affairs of the jail being super- 
vised by the county commissioners. Several counties, 
however, have prison inspectors, varying in number from 
two to fifteen. They are either elected by the voters or 
appointed by the county commissioners or the judges. 

They usually have general supervision of the manage- 
ment of the jail, choosing the warden and other jail offi- 
cials, providing food for the prisoners at rates fixed by the 
commissioners, and conducting the prison's industries. 

The County Surveyor. The chief duty of this officer 
formerly was to survey the public land of the State 



THE JURY COMMISSIONED 149 

lying within the county. He now surveys the sites of 
public buildings and makes plans for the construction of 
roads and bridges. When requested he makes detailed 
maps of the county or portions of it. Surveyors frequently 
seek the office for the experience and prestige it brings 
them. 

The County Superintendent. See Article X. 

The Coroner. The coroner investigates the death of 
any person who was killed or died suddenly or under 
mysterious circumstances. He empanels a jury of six 
persons and summons witnesses to assist him in determin- 
ing the cause of death and fixing the responsibility if 
death did not result from natural causes. 

He may appoint deputies throughout the county. If 
the coroner or his deputy is unable to attend, a justice of 
the peace may hold the inquest. 

The Jury Commissioners. Two jury commissioners are 
chosen in each county, but at the election a voter is 
allowed to vote for only one of the candidates. 

Once a year the judge and the jury commissioners meet 
and select a number of persons to serve as jurors by writ- 
ing the name, place of residence, and occupation of each on 
a slip of paper. These slips are placed in the jury-wheel. 
Before each term of court the jury commissioners and the 
sheriff meet and draw the panel of jurors to serve at the 
coming term. These persons are called veniremen. The 
judge decides how many jurors shall be drawn and the 
order to draw the jury is directed by the judge to the 
sheriff. 

The Recorder of Deeds. Deeds, mortgages, charters of 
corporations, releases, commissions of county officers, 
and various other papers are recorded in the office of 



150 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

the recorder of deeds. The date on which a document 
is presented for record is noted on its back, and a copy of 
it is preserved in the recorder's office. 

A deed is a legal instrument or document in writing, con- 
veying the ownership of real estate. A deed should be recorded 
within ninety days after it is executed to make it valid. 

A mortgage is a document pledging real estate as security 
for the payment of a debt. Not only the date but also the hour 
and minute when it is presented for record is noted on the 
mortgage, since the mortgage first recorded has first claim 
against the property in case of non-payment of the debt. 

The Register of Wills, The wills of deceased per- 
sons are recorded and l^ept in the office of the register 
of wills. When a person dies, his will, if there is one, must 
be probated; that is, it must be taken to the register and 
sufficient proof must be brought that it is the lawful will 
of the decedent. A copy of the will is then given to the 
executor mentioned in the will and letters testamentary 
are issued to him by the register. If there is no will, the 
register of wills appoints an administrator and gives him 
letters of administration. The register keeps a record of 
the transactions of executors and administrators. 

If disputes arise concerning a will, the register of wills 
hears and decides the case. An appeal may be taken 
from his decision to the orphans' court. 

In counties in which a separate orphans' court is es- 
tablished the register of Wills is also clerk of the orphans' 
court. With the approval of the court he may appoint an 
assistant or deputy to act as clerk of the orphans' court. 
The clerk of the orphans' court also issues marriage 
licenses and keeps a record of births and deaths in the 
county. In counties in which there is no separate or- 
phans' court the duties of the clerk of this court devolve 
upon the prothonotary or upon the clerk of the courts. 



THE CLERK OF THE COURTS 151 

The Prothonotary. The Prothonotary is the clerk of 
the court of common pleas and keeps a record of each 
case heard in this court. 

A record of judgments and of mechanics' liens is kept in the 
office of the prothonotary. 

A judgment note or judgment bond is a written acknowl- 
edgment of a debt. It may be given voluntarily by a person 
or may be obtained through the decision of the judge in a civil 
suit at law. A judgment constitutes a claim against real estate. 
The order in which judgments against the same property are 
entered in the prothonotary' s office determines the order of 
payment. 

A lien is a legal claim against property for the payment of 
a debt. A mechanics' lien is a claim filed against a building 
by the contractor or some other person if he is not paid at the 
proper time for labor or material furnished. 

The prothonotary also keeps a record of naturaliza- 
tions, a register of the physicians of the county, and a 
record of national, state, county, and city elections. 

The Clerk of the Courts. This officer keeps a record of 
the proceedings of the criminal courts — the court of 
oyer and terminer and the court of quarter sessions. 
He is often known simply as the clerk of quarter sessions. 
He administers the oath to the jurors and witnesses 
and issues the notices summoning persons to appear 
at court as directed by the judge. A record of township 
and borough elections is kept in this office. 

In some of the less populous counties, two or more of the 
following offices are filled by one and the same person: pro- 
thonotary, clerk of the courts, register of wills, and recorder 
of deeds. 

A Board of Viewers is appointed in each county by the 
court of common pleas, for a term of three years. A vacancy 
is filled by the court for a full term. In counties with over a 
million inhabitants the number of viewers shall not be less 
than six nor more than nine, in other counties not less than 



152 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

three nor more than nine. Each member of the Board must 
be at least twenty-five years old, a freeholder, and a qualified 
voter and must have resided in the county at least five years 
prior to his appointment. Whenever a petition shall be pre- 
sented to a court for the opening of a road or any other similar 
purpose the judge shall immediately appoint three persons, 
one of whom shall be learned in the law, from among the 
board of viewers, as a road jury or jury of view. 

The sinking fund commission of each county consists of 
the commissioners, the controller, or auditors, and the treas- 
urer. 

The District Courts. While the courts held at the 
county seat are popularly known as county courts, they 
belong to the judicial system of the State and are actually 
district courts of the State. On account of their close 
connection with the county's interests it is preferable to 
discuss them under county government. 

Each county has a court of common pleas, a court of 
oyer and terminer, a court of quarter sessions, and an or- 
phans' court. Philadelphia County and Allegheny County 
have several courts of common pleas. 

In counties in which the population exceeds 150,000 
there shall be a separate orphans' court with a separate 
orphans' court judge; and the General Assembly may by 
law establish a separate orphans' court in any other county. 

These courts meet separately at stated times during each 
year. 

The court 0} common pleas tries civil cases, that is, 
cases which do not involve crime. Damage suits, suits for 
breach of contract, and disputes concerning the owner- 
ship of property or wages due, are examples of cases tried 
in this court. 

Argument court is the name given to a special session of 
court, held without a jury, for the purpose of hearing cases 
based mainly on legal argument or the interpretation of certain 
points of law, as in granting writs of injunction. 



JUDICIAL DISTRICTS 1 53 

The court of oyer and terminer tries criminal cases of 
a serious nature, like those involving murder, arson, or 
burglary. Oyer and terminer means hearing and deter- 
mining. 

The court of quarter sessions tries petty criminal cases, 
like cases of larceny and assault and battery. The term 
quarter sessions has reference to the quarterly meetings of 
the court. Liquor licenses are granted by this court; and 
when the court sits to hear applications for licenses it is 
known as the license court. 

Special sessions of the court of quarter sessions, known 
as the juvenile court 1 are held to hear proceedings against 
neglected and incorrigible children under the age of sixteen 
years. Such children may be committed to the care of some 
respectable family or association willing to receive them or 
they may be placed in some training or industrial school. 

The orphans' court has jurisdiction over the estates of 
deceased persons, minors, and persons incapable of manag- 
ing their estates. 

A county court has been established in Allegheny County. 
It is intermediate between a magistrate's court and a district 
court and hears civil cases in which the sum of money 
demanded does not exceed $600, cases of desertion and non- 
support, and cases appealed to it from a magistrate's or 
alderman's court. 

Judicial Districts. After each census the General 
Assembly of Pennsylvania passes a law designating the 
judicial districts of the State. By the act of 1901 the 
State was divided into fifty-six judicial districts. 

A county containing at least 40,000 inhabitants shall 
constitute a separate judicial district. Counties contain- 
ing a smaller population are united to form judicial dis- 
tricts, or, if necessary, may be attached to contiguous dis- 
tricts; but not more than four counties may be included 



154 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

in one judicial district. Whether a county is a separate 
district or only part of a district, it has its own court house 
and jail. 

District Judges. The district judges are frequently 
called county judges. Each district has at least one judge 
learned in the law. He is called judge of the court of 
common pleas and is also judge of the courts of oyer and 
terminer and quarter sessions, and of the orphans' court in 
counties which have no separate orphans' court. The 
General Assembly shall provide for additional judges when- 
ever the business of the district shall show that more than 
one judge is necessary. Most of the districts have only one 
such judge. In counties having a separate orphans' court 
the judges of common pleas have no jurisdiction over 
orphans' court proceedings ; but the judges of the orphans' 
court, at the request of the judges of the court of common 
pleas, may hear and determine proceedings in equity. 

Judges who are willing to do so may be assigned by the 
prothonotary of the Supreme Court to preside at trials in an- 
other judicial district whose judge has requested assistance 
because of the large amount of business before the court. 
For such service the judge assigned to another district shall 
receive $20 per day and car-fare. 

Districts composed of more than one county elect one 
judge learned in the law, for the district, and each county 
elects two associate judges who need not be learned in the 
law. 

Judges learned in the law are judges who have passed 
an examination in the law and have been admitted to the 
bar to practice as lawyers. 

Judges learned in the law preside at the sessions of the 
court, see that the trial is conducted impartially and ac- 
cording to legal methods, decide points of law raised dur- 



JUDGES 155 

ing the trial, and sentence convicted criminals according 
to law. 

Among other powers and duties of the judges are the follow- 
ing: to issue writs of habeas corpus, writs of injunction, and 
similar orders; to charter cemetery companies, church organi- 
zations, secret societies, and other corporations not for profit, 
to issue naturalization papers; and to grant petitions. They 
are also justices of the peace as to criminal matters. They are 
not allowed to practice law as an attorney in any of the courts 
while continuing in office. 

In districts which have more than one common pleas 
judge learned in the law, the judge oldest in commission is 
the president judge and the other judge or judges are 
known as additional law judges. If the president judge is 
re-elected he, however, continues to be president judge. 
Both judges may sit together to hear a case or they may 
hear separate cases in different court rooms. If two hap- 
pen to be elected at the same time they cast lots for priority 
of commission. 

The county court of Allegheny County consists of one 
judge for each 200,000 population or fraction thereof exceeding 
100,000. The judge oldest in commission is called the pre- 
siding judge. 

Associate judges need not be learned in the law. They 
have in general the same powers that a judge learned in the 
law has, but are not supposed to hold court. They sit with 
the law judge during the sessions of court and give assist- 
ance in various judicial matters. The law judge holds 
court alternately in the counties composing the judicial 
district and during his absence from a county the associate 
judges of that county attend to its judicial business. 

Which officers of the county have legislative powers? 
Executive powers? Judicial powers? 



156 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Juries. There are two Classes of juries, the grand jury 
and the common or trial jury. The trial jury is either 
a petit jury or a traverse jury. 

The grand jury is a body of twenty-three men who 
decide whether a person accused of a crime shall be 
brought before court for trial or not. (For the discussion 
of the grand jury, see Amendments, Article V, in "The 
Government of the United States.") 

Other duties of the grand jury are to inspect the court 
house, jail, and other public buildings of the county, in- 
vestigate their management, and make recommenda- 
tions for their improvement; and to approve of the erec- 
tion of public buildings, the location of county bridges, and 
the purchase of land for public purposes. They may 
also investigate the official conduct of public officers within 
the county and may bring indictments against them for 
neglect of duty or other official misdemeanor. 

The petit jury is a body of twelve men who sit at the 
trial of a criminal case, hear the evidence and decide the 
case according to the evidence. The decision of a trial 
jury is called a verdict and it must receive the unanimous 
approval of the jury. The verdict of a petit jury is either 
"Guilty" or "Not guilty." 

The traverse jury is a body of twelve men who sit at 
the trial and decide civil cases. The verdict is either "For 
the plaintiff" or "For the defendant." A traverse is a 
formal denial of allegations or charges made. 

Trials. A criminal trial. The parties to a criminal 
case are the prosecutor and the defendant. The following are 
the principal steps in a criminal case: 

The person accused of a crime is arrested and brought be- 
fore a justice or some other magistrate for a hearing. If the 
evidence against him is sufficient he is either remanded to jail 
or released on bail. 

The district attorney prepares a formal bill of indictment 



TRIALS AT COURT 1 57 

and lays it before the grand jury when it meets at the opening 
of the next session of court. 

The grand jury considers the indictment and if it finds a 
true bill the accused must stand trial. 

At the time set for trial the accused is brought into court 
and the clerk reads the indictment charging him with crime. 

The judge then requests the prisoner to plead. If he 
pleads " Guilty," no trial is necessary; if he pleads "Not 
guilty," the trial proceeds. 

A jury of twelve men is empaneled, the clerk drawing the 
names from the list selected by the jury commissioners. Both 
sides may challenge or reject jurors who, in their opinion, will 
probably not decide according to the evidence. It sometimes 
happens that the entire panel of jurors summoned to attend 
court is exhausted in this manner and the sheriff may then 
summon any citizen present in the court room. Persons so 
summoned are called talesmen. 

The district attorney, in behalf of the commonwealth, now 
states his case to the jury and brings forward the witnesses 
against the accused. Before giving testimony each witness 
must take an oath that he will tell the truth. After all the wit- 
nesses against the prisoner are heard, the commonwealth rests 
its case. 

The attorney for the defendant then states his case to the 
jury and presents witnesses in favor of the accused. Witnesses 
on both sides may be cross-examined by the opposing lawyers . 

When all the evidence is in, the attorney on each side makes 
his plea to the jury. 

The judge then charges the jury, reviewing important 
evidence, explaining the law connected with the case, and in- 
structing the jurors with regard to the kind of verdict that may 
be found. 

The jury retires to another room to deliberate and as 
soon as the members have arrived at a unanimous decision they 
are brought into the court room to report the verdict. Occa- 
sionally a verdict is reached by the jury without leaving the 
jury-box. 

If the verdict is "Not guilty," the prisoner is discharged. 
If it is "Guilty," the judge imposes the penalty by pronouncing 
sentence according to law. 

In certain cases convicts may be released on probation 
instead of being sentenced according to law. 



158 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

A civil trial. The parties to a civil trial are the plaintiff 
and the defendant. A civil case is not laid before the grand 
jury and the district attorney need not be an attorney in the 
suit. Each party to the suit provides himself with counsel to 
conduct his side of the case. The following is a brief outline 
of a civil case: 

The defendant is summoned to appear at court on a cer- 
tain day set for the trial of the case. 

Both parties appear in court with their attorneys. A 
jury of twelve men is drawn. If either side objects to one or 
more of the jurors, eight more are drawn, and of these twenty 
men each attorney rejects four. By mutual agreement the 
parties to the suit may dispense w T ith a jury and submit the 
decision of the case to the judge. 

Both attorneys present their side of the case to the court or 
the jury and bring forward their witnesses, as in a criminal 
case. 

The verdict of the jury in a civil case usually fixes the 
amount of damages or other conditions involved in the case. 
If the verdict is for the plaintiff, judgment is entered against 
the defendant on the records of the court. 

Cases before the orphans' court are conducted without a 
jury. 

Compensation of County Officers. In counties in 
which the population does not exceed 150,000 most of the 
county officers are paid by fees, but recent acts of the As- 
sembly have provided several of the officers of counties 
containing less than 150,000 inhabitants with fixed salaries; 
in counties with more than 150,000 population all receive 
fixed salaries. These salaries vary in the different coun- 
ties, being graded according to the population. 

For example, the salary of the district attorney varies from 
$300 per year in counties whose population does not exceed 
10,000 to $12,000 per year in counties containing over 800,000 
inhabitants. 

The salaries of the judges of the court of common pleas 
and of separate orphans' court judges are established as fol- 
lows: In Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties, $11,000 per 



COUNTY TAXES 1 59 

year; in judicial districts with a population of 250,000, but 
less than 500,000, $8500; in districts with a population of 
90,000, but less than 250,000, $7000; in districts with less 
than 90,000 inhabitants, $6000 per year. Common pleas 
judges of Dauphin County receives $2000 additional per year 
for trying the Commonwealth's civil cases. 

County Taxes. The county tax is levied by the 
county commissioners according to the property valuations 
made by the local assessors and is collected by local tax 
collectors. 

The county also receives fifteen per cent of the liquor 
licenses and a license fee on each automobile registered in 
the county. The county commissioners may levy a tax 
not exceeding two mills on the dollar for the construction 
and repair of county roads; they may also levy a tax on 
dogs to defray the damages caused to sheep by dogs and 
for the payment of horses, mules, cattle, and swine which 
were bitten by mad dogs and died or had to be killed on 
this account; but at the end of the year any money in 
excess of $200, raised by this tax and remaining unex- 
pended, shall be paid into the school fund of the several 
school districts of the county. Three-fourths of the State 
tax on personal property is returned to the county. 



Questions Requiring Reference To the Constitution. 1. Is 
the county superintendent a county officer? Art. XIV, Sec. 
1, 2. 

2. How is the public debt of a county limited ? Art. 
XI, Sec. 8. 

3. May the State pay a county's debts? Art. IX, Sec. 
9, 10. 

4. How may district judges be removed from office? 
Art. V, Sec. 15. 

5. If a judge of Lebanon County would move to Luzerne 
County, could he still continue to serve as judge of Lebanon 
County? Art. V, Sec. 19. 



l6o THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

6. If a case is decided in a court, is that decision final? 
Art. V, Sec. 10, 14, 24, 27. 

7. May the courts of one judicial district differ from 
those of another? Art. Ill, Sec. 7; Art. V, Sec. 26. 

8. Is a jury necessary in the trial of every case? Art. 
I, Sec. 9; Art. V, Sec. 27. 

9. What is done with the property of a suicide? Art. I, 
Sec. 19. 

10. How may a person accused of a crime be released 
from jail before trial? Art. I, Sec. 14. 



TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT 

References in the State Constitution. Art. IV, Sec. 8; 
Art. V, Sec. 10, n, 14; Art. VIII, Sec. 3, 11, 14, 17; 
Art. IX, Sec. 1; Art. X, Sec. 3. 

Origin of a Township. The township originated among 
the Germans more than two thousand years ago. A number 
of houses were grouped together, each with a plot of ground, 
and the whole w T as surrounded by a ditch, a hedge, a wall, or 
a strong fence, called a tun. The land comprised within the 
enclosure was called the tunscipe (township). It became 
customary for several townships to assemble in political 
meetings to elect town officers and make laws. The townships 
so united were called the hundred, probably because they con- 
tained one hundred warriors or perhaps one hundred families. 
In northern England the township was at one time called the 
by, a term of Danish origin. 

During the fifth century the Angles and Saxons invaded 
England and carried with them the German ideas of local 
government. These ideas were in turn transmitted to the 
American colonies. Penn's charter gave him the right "to 
Divide the said Country and Islands into Townes, Hundreds, 
and Counties, and to erect and incorporate Townes into Bor- 
roughs, and Borroughs into Citties' , ; and in 1684 there were 
already twenty-two townships in Pennsylvania. 

In New England town and township mean the same thing 
and the New England town has great power in local govern- 
ment. The township of the Middle and Western States is not 
quite so important and powerful as it is in New England. In 
the Southern States it is hardly more than a voting precinct. 
The local government of New England is of the town type; 
that of the South, of the county type; while in the other States 
the governmental functions are more nearly equalized between 
the county and the township. 

161 



1 62 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Nature of a Township. A township is a political 
division of a county. The laws by which a township is 
governed are made by the State or the United States. A 
township is a corporation and can therefore sue and be 
sued, can buy and sell property, can levy and collect taxes, 
and can borrow money. It may have sub-divisions like 
sub-school districts, voting districts, and road districts. 

The township is the seat of the local government and 
the home of self-government. Too much importance can 
therefore not be attached to the soundness of township 
government and the integrity of township officers, since 
methods of township government may be employed in 
State and national government and township officers fre- 
quently become officers of the State or nation. It is in the 
township, borough, or city where most people learn their 
first practical lessons in government and where the great 
majority of the people come most closely in contact with the 
government. In the township, where every voter knows 
each candidate for office personally, political party lines 
should not be closely drawn, but the vote should be cast 
for the individual who will work for the best interests of the 
people and whose qualifications best fit him for the office. 

In its relation to the county and State, the township is 
merely a division which makes it more convenient to carry 
out the laws thoroughly and effectively; but in its relation 
to the people it has a much greater significance since it is 
the township government to which they look directly for 
their ordinary comforts and conveniences. It is largely 
also the township government that gives the people the sat- 
isfaction and assurance that they are not governed but are 
governing themselves. 

Formation of New Townships. New townships may 
be formed in Pennsylvania by the division of a township 
already existing A petition signed by the owners of not 



TOWNSHIP OFFICERS 1 63 

less than twenty-five per cent of the assessed valuation 
of the real estate of the township proposed to be divided 
must be presented to the court of quarter sessions. The 
court then orders a vote to be taken; and if a majority of 
the voters of the township favor the division the new town- 
ship is established. 

Classes of Townships. Townships are divided into 
two classes. Those having a population of 300 or more 
people to the square mile are townships of the first class; 
the others are townships of the second class. After each 
census the county commissioners issue a proclamation 
designating the townships belonging to the first class. 

Townships of the Second Class 

Township Officers. The officers of a township of the 
second class are supervisors, constable, school directors, 
assessors, tax collectors, auditors, overseers of the poor, 
treasurer, and election officers. While the justice of the 
peace and notary public are usually discussed in con- 
nection with the township officers, they are actually State 
officers and are commissioned by the Governor. The 
commissions for the other officers are received from the 
court of quarter sessions or from the board of election 
officers. 

The office of township clerk was abolished in 191 1. 

How Chosen. The officers mentioned above, with the 
exception of the notary public, are elected by the voters 
of the township, on municipal election day. Some minor 
officers, like the clerks of election and road masters, are 
appointed by their superiors. The notary public is ap- 
pointed by the Governor with the consent of the Senate. 

Any voter who has resided in the township during one 



164 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

year previous to the election is eligible to a township office; 
but women may be elected to the office of school director 
and overseer of the poor and may be appointed notary 
public. 

In the offices of supervisor, auditor, and overseers of 
the poor, approximately one-half are chosen at each 
municipal election. 

Term. The justice of the peace is elected for a term 
of six years, the constable, supervisors, assessor, tax col- 
lector, auditors, and overseers of the poor, for four years; 
the treasurer and election officers, for two years. The 
notary public is appointed for a fixed term of four years. 

The terms of school directors and supervisors begin 
on the first Monday in December. The terms of all other 
officers elected by the people begin on the first Monday 
in January. The term of the notary begins as soon as he 
receives his commission. These officers, except the notary, 
serve until a successor has qualified. 

Removal from Office. If any township officer refuses or 
persistently neglects to perform his duties and twenty-five 
citizens, owners of real estate, make complaint to the court of 
quarter sessions and prove the facts alleged, the court may 
declare the office vacant and appoint another person in place 
of the officer removed. 

If a justice of the peace or an alderman shall fail to reside 
and maintain an office in the district for which he was elected, 
for a period of six calendar months, he may be removed from 
office on petition of ten qualified electors of the district. 

Vacancies. Vacancies in township offices are filled as 
follows: 

In the office of justice of the peace, by the Governor, who 
appoints a person to serve until the first Monday in January 
following the next election. 

In the office of assessor, by the county commissioners, 
for the remainder of the term. 

In the office of the constable and tax collector, by appoint- 
ment by the court of quarter sessions, for the unexpired term. 



THE SUPERVISOR 1 65 

In the office of supervisor, by appointment by the court of 
quarter sessions, on petition of the remaining members of the 
board and ten owners of real estate, for the unexpired term. 

In the office of notary public, by appointment by the 
Governor, with the consent of the Senate, for four years, as ex- 
plained under vacancies in Art. IV. 

In other elective offices, except school director and election 
officers, by appointment by the court of quarter sessions until 
the next regular election. 

A tie vote is a failure to elect and is usually treated as a 
vacancy. 

Oath of Office. Ail township officers are required to take 
an oath before entering upon their duties. They generally sub- 
scribe to their oaths before a justice of the peace. The oath is 
administered to the justice of the peace by the recorder of 
deeds. 

The Three Departments of Government in the Town- 
ship. The constable is the chief executive officer of the 
township. The judicial department is vested in the 
justice of the peace. The township has no distinct 
legislative department. Whatever legislative power the 
township has is vested in the supervisors, who merely have 
the power to make some simple regulations concerning 
the roads and similar matters. In townships of the 
first class the township commissioners may adopt ordi- 
nances on certain matters. 



The Supervisors. Each township elects three town- 
ship supervisors. The board of supervisors organizes 
annually, at the place where the township auditors meet, 
on the first Monday in December. They shall elect one 
of their number chairman and shall choose a secretary 
and a treasurer who may be the same person and may or 
may not be a member of the board. 

It is the chief duty of the supervisors to see that the 
roads and bridges are made and kept in repair. They 



1 66 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

shall divide the township into one or more road districts 
and may employ a superintendent for the entire township, 
or a road master for each district, whose duty it is to see 
that the roads are made according to plans furnished by 
the supervisors and to oversee the men at work and to 
work himself, if required by the supervisors, at wages per 
hour fixed by the supervisors; but the supervisors them- 
selves may oversee and work on the roads, instead of 
employing a superintendent or road masters, at wages 
fixed by the auditors. The wages shall not be less than 
$1.50 nor more than $3 for one day. The supervisors 
may make a contract with a citizen for repairing not more 
than ten miles of road for not more than four years. They 
are authorized to purchase the necessary materials and 
machinery for constructing roads. 

They may erect a town house, in which to store road 
machinery, hold elections and hold meetings of township 
officers; and with the consent of a majority of the voters they 
may erect lockups. 

They shall erect guide posts and may erect watering troughs 
along the roads. At least once each month, during May, June, 
August, and October, they shall remove loose stones from the 
roads or contract with some person to do so. 

On account of increased demand for good roads, several 
laws have been passed tending to improve them. An act of 
the General Assembly of 191 1 provides for a system of im- 
proved roads connecting county-seats, principal cities, and 
towns. These roads are known as State Highways and they 
are constructed and maintained at the expense of the State. 
The act provides for 296 routes of such State Highways. After 
approval by the grand jury and the court of quarter sessions, 
the county commissioners may locate or widen and otherwise 
improve a system of roads for public convenience. These 
roads are known as county roads and are maintained at the 
expense of the county. An agreement may be made between 
the State Highway Department, a county, and a township or 
borough for putting certain roads in excellent condition. Such 
roads are known as State-aid highways; and of the expense 



THE CONSTABLE 1 67 

of construction the State pays fifty per cent and the county and 
township each twenty-five per cent. 

Several laws have been passed to encourage among the 
people a proper regard for the roads and a reasonable pride in 
their appearance. For planting trees along the roadside, an 
allowance of $1 for every two trees is made, but this allowance 
must not exceed one-fourth of the tax for the year. For the 
use of at least four-inch tires in hauling loads of 2000 pounds 
or more, a rebate of one-fourth of the tax is allowed, the rebate 
not to exceed the cash equivalent of five days' labor on the road. 
At the request of a land owner, the supervisor is authorized to 
make and repair sidewalks along a public road, the expense to 
be divided between the township and the land owner. 

The board of supervisors represents the township as 
the head of the corporation. In the absence of the con- 
stable the supervisors perform the duties of that officer. 

New roads may be located, after a petition by citizens 
of the township, on the recommendation of a road jury of 
three viewers and approval by the court. 

The Constable. The constable is the chief executive 
officer of the township. It is his duty to see that peace 
and order are preserved in the community and that the 
laws are properly observed. In case of a disturbance 
which he himself cannot suppress, the constable has the 
right to order citizens to assist him, or he may call upon 
the sheriff for aid in putting down a riot. He attends the 
court of quarter sessions to report concerning violations 
of the law in his district. Two constables may be elected 
in each township. 

He arrests persons on warrants issued by a justice of 
the peace. If he sees a person commit an offense, he may 
arrest him without a warrant. Persons committed to jail 
are taken thither in custody of the constable. He executes 
search warrants and serves summonses and other writs 
issued by a justice. He sells the property of debtors when 



1 68 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

ordered to do so by the justice of the peace, to the amount 
of $300. 

He must give notice of township elections by posting 
ten or more printed or written notices at the most public 
places at least ten days before the election; and within five 
days after the election he must deliver the certificates of 
election to the persons who stand elected. 

The constable is also ex-officio fish and game warden. 

The School Directors. See Article X. 

The Assessor. The chief duty of the assessor is to 
place a valuation on all taxable property in the township 
as a basis for levying taxes. This valuation is made every 
three years and is known as the triennial assessment. Dur- 
ing the other two years necessary changes are made in the 
valuations to cover the erection of new buildings and im- 
provements in others and the arrival of new residents. 
The assessment of voters who do not own property is based 
on their profession or occupation. 

If a person thinks his assessment is too high, he may 
appeal on a designated day to the county commissioners to 
have it reduced or from them he may appeal to court. 

Each township has one assessor, and in townships di- 
vided into election districts an assistant assessor is elected 
in each district for a term of two years. The assistant as- 
sessor shall perform only the duties relating to elections 
and he is therefore chiefly a registry assessor. A vacancy 
in his office is filled by appointment by the court of 
quarter sessions. 

The assessor prepares a list of voters for the election 
officers. He must personally visit every dwelling house on 
the first Monday in May and the first Monday in Decem- 
ber, or as soon thereafter as possible. He must attend 
every election to give necessary information to the elec- 
tion officers. 



THE AUDITORS 1 69 

He also makes a report to the clerk of the orphans' 
court of the births and deaths in his township and keeps a 
record of persons of military age. 

The Tax Collector. This officer collects the taxes. 
His duties vary in different parts of the State with respect 
to the kinds of taxes he collects. The road tax, with the 
exception of delinquent taxes, is collected by the treasurer 
of the board of supervisors. The school directors some- 
times appoint their own collector to collect the school tax. 
The collector commonly collects the State and county taxes, 
but in some townships these taxes are collected by the 
county treasurer or by collectors appointed by him. 

The tax collector must notify every taxable by mail, 
within thirty days after receiving the tax duplicate, of the 
valuation of his property, the rate of taxation, the amount 
of his tax, and when and where the taxes shall be paid. 

He must make monthly reports to the person to whom 
he must transmit the taxes collected. 

The Auditors. There are three auditors. It is their 
duty to examine the accounts of township officers and 
publish a report showing the amount of money received 
and expended in the township. This report must be filed 
with the court and at least five copies of it must be posted 
in conspicuous places in the township. They have the 
right to disapprove of improper expenditures; and in this 
case the officer in whose account the rejected item of 
expense appears must refund it to the township unless he 
appeals to the court of common pleas and is sustained 
by the court in his appeal. This office provides a check 
upon illegal, unauthorized, or careless expenditure of 
public money. 

The auditors also decide disputes concerning the mak- 
ing or repairing of line fences and appraise damages when 
sheep are killed by dogs. 



170 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

The Overseers of the Poor. In townships electing these 
officers there are two overseers. The act requiring the 
election of overseers of the poor does not apply to counties 
having poorhouses or almshouses managed by the com- 
missioners or by poor directors. 

Their duty consists in giving support to the poor either 
by providing for them in their own homes, by paying other 
people to take care of them, or by contracting with an ad- 
joining county having an almshouse to care for them. 

The Treasurer. This office is abolished in all but a few 

counties of the State. It is the treasurer's duty to take 
care of the public money of the township. Supervisors 
and school directors choose their own treasurers. 

The Election Officers. See Article VIII. 

The Justice of the Peace. Two justices may be chosen 
in each township. Frequently only one of the justices 
chosen takes out his commission. With the consent 
of a majority of voters of a township, more than two 
justices may be chosen. To secure his commission the 
justice must pay $3 to the recorder of deeds, which fee is 
sent by the recorder to the Secretary of the Commonwealth. 

The principal duty of the justice of the peace is to hold 
court on a small scale, in which he decides disputes be- 
tween persons and punishes offenders for minor breaches 
of the law. For more serious crimes he binds the accused 
over for trial at court, releasing him on bail when this is per- 
missible. The punishments imposed by a justice consist of 
fines or occasionally of a short term of imprisonment. The 
accused may waive a hearing before a justice and have his 
case transferred to the criminal court for trial. 

Civil suits in which the amount in dispute is not over 
$300 may be tried by a justice. When the amount in dis- 
pute does not exceed $5.33 the justice's decision is final. 



THE NOTARY PUBLIC 171 

Cases above this amount may be appealed to the court of 
common pleas. 

The jurisdiction of a justice extends over the whole 
county, that is, he may hear cases brought from any part 
of the county. 

The justice issues warrants for the arrest of persons. 
He also has authority to administer oaths, to draw up deeds 
and other legal documents and to attest the signatures 
thereto, to issue search warrants, and to perform the mar- 
riage ceremony. 

The Notary Public. A notary public may be appointed 

wherever the Governor considers it advisable to do so. 
Xo person can be appointed a notary who is not a citizen 
of the State and who has not resided in the city or county 
for which the commission is issued for at least two years 
immediately preceding the appointment. 

This officer administers oaths, protests notes and other 
bankable papers, takes depositions and affidavits, draws 
up and takes acknowledgments of deeds and other legal 
papers, and attests signatures to documents. He authen- 
ticates his acts by signing his name, attaching his seal, and 
adding the date upon which his term of office expires. 
His seal is recognized throughout the world. He pays 
S25 to the State Treasurer for his commission. 

A customs notary is a person who transacts notarial busi- 
ness with respect to United States customs. An ordinary 
notary may be appointed a customs notary by the Secretary of 

the Treasury. 

Compensation. Township officers either receive a cer- 
tain fee for each transaction of business, a fixed sum of 
money for each day they actually serve in the performance 
of their duties, a certain percentage upon public money 
handled by them, or practically no compensation at all. 



172 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

The fees are paid largely by the persons for whom the 
business is transacted, while the daily compensation is paid 
by the township or the county. Thus the assessor and the 
election officers are paid out of the county treasury as is also 
part of the compensation of the constable. 

Township Taxes. The supervisors may levy a road tax 
which shall not exceed ten mills; but upon the unani- 
mous petition of the board of supervisors, sufficient cause 
being shown, the court of quarter sessions may order a 
greater tax than ten mills, but not to exceed ten additional 
mills, to be levied. The road tax shall not be payable 
in labor or worked out, but shall be collected in cash. 
Each township shall receive annually from the State an 
amount equal to fifty per cent of the road tax collected by 
the township, not exceeding $20 for each mile of township 
road. This State appropriation must be used for making 
permanent improvements on the township roads according 
to plans and under the supervision of the State Highway 
Department. 

For discussion of school tax, see Article X. 

The overseers of the poor may levy a poor tax in town- 
ships where these officers are chosen. The township 
usually derives additional income from licenses, fines, and 
various other sources. Sixty per cent of the liquor license 
is given to the township for the support of the local govern- 
ment. 

Townships of the First Class 

Township Officers. The law establishing a government 
for townships of the first class states that a township of 
this class shall elect township commissioners, a township 
treasurer, a township assessor, and three township auditors. 
Townships of the first class have no supervisor chosen 
by the people and no separate tax collector. In the year 



THE TOWNSHIP COMMISSIONERS 1 73 

in which the triennial assessment is made two assistant 
assessors are chosen for the valuation of real estate. The 
other officers of a township of the first class are the same as 
those of a township of the second class; and the laws of a 
township of the second class apply to townships of the first 
class unless changed by act of the General Assembly. 

Term, Vacancy, and Compensation. The term of the 
township commissioners is two years, of the treasurer, 
assessor, and auditors, four years. The terms begin on 
the first Monday in January. The town clerk is appointed 
by the commissioners at their pleasure. The treasurer 
cannot succeed himself. 

A vacancy in the office of commissioner is filled by the 
court of quarter sessions on petition of at least ten voters 
of the district in which the vacancy occurs; but if no such 
petition is made within thirty days, the commissioners 
themselves elect a person to the vacancy. The person 
elected or appointed shall serve for the unexpired term. 
A vacancy in the office of treasurer is filled by the 
commissioners for the unexpired term. 

Commissioners receive no compensation. The pay of 
the tow r n clerk is fixed by the commissioners. The assessor 
and assistant assessors receive $5 per day. The treasurer 
is allowed to retain five per cent of the taxes collected 
by him. 

The Township Commissioners. In townships of the 
first class, one commissioner is chosen in each election 
district, but the commissioner need not reside in the dis- 
trict for which he is elected. Each township, however, 
shall not have less than five commissioners; and in town- 
ships in which there are less than five election districts, 
each district shall elect one commissioner and the remain- 
ing number of commissioners shall be elected by the voters 
of the whole township. 



174 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

The commissioners represent the township in its cor- 
porate capacity. They shall open, construct, and repair 
the roads; may construct foot-paths along highways and 
erect lights where deemed necessary; may cause sidewalks 
to be made in villages; may establish a system of sewers 
and drainage; may make regulations concerning offensive 
buildings and objects and abate nuisances prejudicial to 
health or safety; may establish a police force; may levy 
a tax not exceeding one per cent; and may borrow money. 
They may appoint one or more supervisors or engineers 
of highways, at pleasure. 

They may adopt ordinances regulating the affairs of 
the township coming within their powers. 

The Township Treasurer shall have charge of all the 
township moneys and shall collect the taxes levied in 
the township. He may also be treasurer of the school 
board. 

The Town Clerk shall be the secretary of the board of 
commissioners and shall perform such other duties as 
they give him by ordinance. 



BOROUGH GOVERNMENT 

Nature of a Borough. A borough is a political division 
intermediate between a township and a city. It is an 
incorporated village or town. 

Whenever the people of a village desire or need greater 
conveniences than the township can give them in the way 
of separate schools, improved sidewalks, lighted streets, a 
water supply, and greater protection against fire and crime 
and in regard to health, a majority of the voters may peti- 
tion the court of quarter sessions to have the village incor- 
porated as a borough. They must give notice of this 
petition for at least thirty days in one newspaper of the 
county. If the judge deems it expedient to do so he grants 
the petition. A village need not have a designated popu- 
lation before it can become a borough. A borough may 
be divided into wards, for the better administration of its 
government. 

Borough Officers. A borough has all the township 
officers except the supervisors, and has also the following 
additional officers chosen by the people: the councilmen, 
the chief burgess, and the high constable. 

The three departments of government are distinctly 
represented in a borough. The council constitutes the 
legislative department, the chief burgess is the head of the 
executive department, and the judicial department is 
vested in the justices of the peace. 

Term, Vacancy, and Compensation. The additional 
borough officers are elected by the voters for a term of four 
years. Their terms begin on the first Monday in January. 
The chief burgess cannot succeed himself. 

*75 



176 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

An ordinary vacancy in the borough council is filled by 
the members of the council themselves until the next regular 
election; but if the court of quarter sessions declares the seats 
of the councilmen vacant on account of the failure of the coun- 
cil to organize within ten days after the time fixed by law, such 
vacancy is filled by appointment by the court until the next 
borough election. Vacancies in the office of chief burgess 
and high constable are filled by the court of quarter sessions 
for the unexpired term. 

The councilmen serve without pay. The salaries of 
the chief burgess and high constable are fixed by council. 

The Council. The council is the legislative body of 
the borough. The laws made by the council are called 
ordinances. It represents the borough as a corporation. 

In boroughs not divided into wards the council usually 
consists of seven members. Approximately one-half of 
the councilmen are elected at each municipal election. 
In boroughs divided into wards, the councilmen are ap- 
portioned among the wards, each ward electing from one 
to three councilmen. 

The council elects a clerk or secretary, who keeps the 
records of the council and signs and publishes its ordi- 
nances; a treasurer, who has charge of the money received 
from the borough tax and from fines and licenses; and a 
borough engineer, who makes necessary surveys and fixes 
the grades for streets and sidewalks. It may also elect a 
solicitor, for a term of four years, to transact the bor- 
ough's legal business and give the council legal advice, 
and a supervisor or street commissioner to construct and 
repair the streets of the borough. Sometimes the care 
of the streets is entrusted to a road committee of council- 
men instead of a supervisor. It is also required to appoint 
a board of health of five members. The board of health 
shall elect a health officer, who shall execute the orders of 



THE CHIEF BURGESS 177 

the board. The council elects one of its members president 
of council. 

The ordinances of the borough are passed by a majority 
vote of the council. An ordinance begins with the words 
"Be it enacted and ordained. " After the ordinance is 
passed by the council it is signed by the president and the 
clerk and is then given to the chief burgess. If he approves 
it he signs it. If he vetoes it, it may be passed over his veto 
by a vote of two-thirds of the council, or, when there are 
less than nine councilmen, by one vote more than a 
majority. It becomes a law without his signature, if he 
does not return it to council by the next regular meeting 
after it has been received by him. An ordinance must 
be advertised, after its approval, to become a part of the 
borough law. 

The council examines all bills and if it finds them cor- 
rect it orders the treasurer to pay them. On the petition 
of a majority of the freeholders in territory adjacent to a 
borough, the council may pass an ordinance to annex this 
territory to the borough. 

The Chief Burgess. The chief burgess is the chief 
executive officer of the borough. During his absence or 
incapacity his duties shall be discharged by the president of 
council. He shall be present at the annual organization 
meeting of the council but shall have no vote unless the 
council is equally divided, in which case he shall have the 
deciding vote in the election of officers. He shall not take 
part in the meetings of the council on any other occasion. 

He must sign or veto the ordinances enacted by the 
council. He must see that the ordinances of the borough 
are enforced and may himself arrest offenders against these 
ordinances. He is ex-officio a justice of the peace and as 
such he may hold a justice's court to decide upon the guilt 
and punishment of offenders. 



178 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

The High Constable. This officer performs police 
duties and is expected to preserve order in the borough. 
The council may also appoint other policemen for the 
borough. 

Boroughs divided into wards elect a justice of the peace, 
a constable, and an assessor in each ward. In making the 
valuation of property, the assessors of all wards shall act as a 
board of assessors. 

Many boroughs were created before the present State 
Constitution went into effect; and since they have been allowed 
to some extent to keep their old form of government, the 
governments of some boroughs may vary slightly from the 
form just described. 

Borough Taxes. The council may levy a tax for 
borough purposes, called the borough tax, which shall not 
exceed ten mills on a dollar. Of this tax one mill may be 
apportioned for public library purposes. It has no sepa- 
rate road tax, but the other taxes and sources of income 
are the same as those of a township. 



CITY GOVERNMENT 

Nature of a City. A city is a political division con- 
taining a large number of inhabitants in a comparatively 
small territory and having a more efficient government 
than that of a borough. It receives a charter from the 
State defining its powers and privileges, and future changes 
in its government are made by acts of the General As- 
sembly. 

A densely populated community requires a more thor- 
oughly organized government than one which is sparsely 
settled or has its population distributed over a large area. 
The close proximity of large numbers of people requires 
effective laws for protecting them in their rights and for 
punishing offenders against the peace and good order of 
the municipality. Special provisions must be made for the 
conservation of the public health, for a water supply, for 
good streets and sidewalks, for light, and for transporta- 
tion. There must be special protection against vice and 
crime and against fire. The cleaning of the streets and 
alleys, building operations, and the general appearance of 
the city must be controlled by municipal authority. Penal 
and charitable institutions, the postal system, and educa- 
tional facilities require special attention. 

Classes of Cities. Cities in Pennsylvania are divided 
into three classes: 

Cities of the first class have a population of 1,000,000 
or more. 

Cities of the second class have a population of 100,000 
to 1,000,000. 

179 



l8o THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Cities of the third class have a population less than 
100,000. 

The State Constitution forbids special legislation regu- 
lating the affairs of cities. The cities of the State were 
therefore classified so that all laws passed to regulate city 
government are general laws with respect to cities of the 
same class. Through this classification provision can be 
made for the differences as to government necessarily ex- 
isting between large and small cities and the constitutional 
prohibition is not violated. 

Cities of the third class shall be chartered whenever a 
majority of the voters of any town or borough, or any two 
or more contiguous towns or boroughs within the limits of 
the same county, having a population of at least 10,000, 
shall vote at any general election in favor of this measure. 

Philadelphia is the only first class city of the State. 
Pittsburgh and Scranton are cities of the second class. 
There are twenty-six cities of the third class in the State. 
Six of the cities of Pennsylvania have a population less 
than 10,000. These were incorporated before the present 
Constitution went into operation. The Governor certifies 
the fact to the councils of any city when it is entitled to 
an advance in classification. 

General Plan of City Government. The same general 
plan is followed in the government of cities of the three 
classes. There are differences, how r ever, in the method 
of administration and the general details of the gov- 
ernment. The higher the class the more effective the 
government is intended to be and the more numerous and 
exacting the duties of the officers become. The govern- 
ment of a large city is as complex as the government of 
a State and probably more difficult. 

The legislative department is vested in the city councils. 

The mayor is at the head of the executive department of 



CITY COUNCILS 181 

the city. He is assisted by the heads of a number of de- 
partments, divisions of the executive department, and other 
officers with special duties assigned to them. 

The judicial department is vested in a system of courts 
similar to a justice's court but with greater power. 

Cities are divided into wards. Wards are to a city 
what townships are to a county and several of the township 
officers are elected in each of the wards. 

The Councils. In first and third class cities the 
councils consist of two branches, select council and com- 
mon council; in second class cities the council consists of 
one body of not less than five members. 

Councilmen are elected by the voters on municipal 
election day and their terms begin on the first Monday 
in January in first and second class cities, and on the first 
Monday in December in third class cities. The term of a 
select councilman and cf a councilman in second class 
cities is four years; of a common councilman, two years. 
Councilmen are divided into two classes. 

Councils usually meet in regular session once a month. 
The councils enact ordinances which must be given to the 
mayor to be signed or vetoed by him. Ordinances may be 
passed over the mayor's veto in first class cities by a three- 
fifths vote of all the members of councils; in second and 
third class cities, by a two-thirds vote. 

Xo ordinance shall be passed except by bill, no bill con- 
sidered unless referred to a committee; no bill shall be passed 
with more than one subject; no bill shall be passed finally on 
the same day on which introduced or reported except in case of 
emergency; the vote on bills is taken by yeas and nays and 
a majority is required to pass a bill. 

No ordinance may be passed which is in contravention 
of a State law or for which no authority, either direct or 



1 82 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

implied, can be found in the city charter or in laws passed 
by the General Assembly. 

The Mayor, The mayor is elected by the voters on 
municipal election day, for a term of four years. The 
term begins on the first Monday in January, except in 
cities of the third class, in which it begins on the first 
Monday in December. The mayor cannot succeed 
himself. In case of a tie vote he is chosen by a joint 
meeting of the incoming councils. 

In case of a vacancy a successor shall be elected for the 
unexpired term at the next municipal election occurring at 
least thirty days after the happening of the vacancy. In the 
meantime, and in cases of inability, the councils in joint ses- 
sion shall choose a person to act as mayor, and until such 
person is chosen the president of select council shall act as 
mayor except in Philadelphia, where one of the heads of de- 
partments acts instead. 

Duties, He shall see that the ordinances of the city and 
the laws of the State are enforced. 

He shall preserve order and peace; and to suppress mobs 
and riots he has the powers of a sheriff and when necessary he 
may take command of the police force and appoint special 
patrolmen. 

He shall supervise the conduct of city officers and is re- 
sponsible for the work of the heads of the departments and may 
require information from them. 

He shall give information on the condition of the city and 
make recommendations to councils. He may call special meet- 
ings of councils. 

He appoints, with the consent of select councils, a number 
of the officers of the city, may remove such officers, and may 
fill vacancies in offices to which he appoints. In third class 
cities he appoints the police force, with the approval of select 
council, and designates one to be chief of police. 

He shall sign or veto bills. 

He has the power of a justice of the peace, may take ac- 
knowledgments, and may perform marriage ceremonies. 



CITY DEPARTMENTS 1 83 

Departments — Other Officers. For the better admin- 
istration of city government, a number of departments 
with executive duties have been created in cities of the 
first and second classes. Cities of the third class also 
have additional executive officers with duties similar to 
those of the heads of some of the departments in cities of 
the first and second classes. 

Some of these heads of departments and other officers 
are appointed by the mayor, with the approval of se- 
lect council, at his pleasure; others are elected by the 
voters or by councils. In first and second class cities a 
civil service system has been established for the appoint- 
ment of subordinate officers. In third class cities heads 
of departments appoint some or all of their subordinates, 
but the law requires that these appointments must be 
made by reason of fitness and not for political purposes. 
The city of Philadelphia is co-extensive with the county 
and therefore has also county officers. 

City officers in general receive fixed salaries. 

For cities of the first class the following executive depart- 
ments have been created: 

The Department of Public Safety. This department em- 
braces the Police, Fire, Electric City Property, Building 
Inspection, Boiler Inspection, Correction, and Elevator In- 
spection Bureaus. The Director of Public Safety appoints 
policemen and has supervision of police affairs, the inspection 
of public buildings, and similar matters. 

The Department of Public Works. This department con- 
tains the Bureau of Gas, Highways, Lighting, Street Cleaning, 
Surveys, Water, and Filtration. The Director of Public Works 
has supervision of the construction f public buildings and 
sewers, and other matters indicated by the titles of the 
bureaus. 

The Department of Supplies. The Director of Supplies 
has control of the purchase of all articles and personal property 
required to conduct the business of the city. 

The Department of Public Health and Charities. The 



184 THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 

director of this department has supervision of the public health 
and of the almshouses, hospitals, and similar city institutions. 

The Department of Receiver of Texas. All taxes levied in 
the city are paid to the Receiver of Taxes. 

The Department of the City Treasurer. The City Treas- 
urer has charge of the moneys belonging to the city and pays 
out the public money on warrants drawn on him. 

The Department of the City Controller. The City Con- 
troller audits the accounts of city officers. 

The Department of Law. The City Solicitor is the legal 
adviser of the city officers and acts as counsel for the city in 
all its departments. 

The Department of Education. See Article X. 

A Board of Revision of Taxes is appointed by the judges 
and this board appoints tw T o assessors for each ward. 

A Department of Wharves, Docks and Ferries is established 
by act of June 8, 1907, and a Department of Recreation by Act 
of June 9, 1911. 

In cities of the second class the follow^ing departments have 
been established, which correspond in general to the depart- 
ments of cities of the first class: 

The Department of Public Safety, the Department of 
Public Works, the Department of Charities, the Department of 
Collector of Delinquent Taxes, the Department of the City 
Treasurer, the Department of the City Controller, the Depart- 
ment of Law, the Department of Assessors, the Department 
of Public Health, the Department of Supplies, and the City- 
Planning Department. 

In cities of the third class provision is made for the follow T - 
ing executive officers or departments: 

The City Treasurer, the City Controller, the City Solicitor, 
the City Engineer, the Board of Health, the Water and Lighting 
Department, the Board of Assessors, and the Department for 
Administering Charity. 

Municipal officers can be impeached on complaint of a 
number of freeholders to the court of common pleas. The 
court then appoints an investigating committee. Impeach- 
ment cases are tried by select council, the judge of common 
pleas presiding. If convicted the officer is removed from 
office. A majority of the civil service commission in first- 
class cities may recommend impeachment. 



COURTS IN CITIES 1 85 

City Courts. The judiciary of cities of the first class 
consists of magistrates' courts. One magistrate's court is 
established for every 30,000 inhabitants. Magistrates are 
chosen on a general ticket by the voters at large for a term 
of six years. They have criminal jurisdiction in minor 
crimes and civil jurisdiction not exceeding $100. They 
take the place of police courts and aldermen's courts in 
other cities. 

The judiciary of cities of the second class consists of 
police courts and aldermen's courts. A city of the second 
class has five police magistrates, appointed by the mayor 
on approval of select council. They hold police court, 
having the powers formerly exercised by the mayor. In 
cities containing over 50,000 inhabitants not more than one 
alderman shall be elected in each ward. 

The judiciary of cities of the third class consists of the 
mayor's court or police court and of aldermen's courts. 
Each morning the mayor holds a session of police court. 
He may commit disorderly persons to prison for not more 
than thirty days. 

References in the Constitution. Art. XV; Art. V, Sec. 
6, 7, 8, 11, 12; Art. VIII, Sec. 7. 



INDEX 



Adjutant-General, &&. 

Agriculture, Secretary of, 88. 

Aldermen, 164, 185. 

Amendments to the Constitu- 
tion, 132. 

Appendix, 135. 

Appropriations, 79. 

Assessor, 168. 

Attendance, compulsory, 124. 

Attorney-General, 85. 

Auditor-General, 86. 

Auditors, county, 147; 
township, 169. 

Banking Department, 89. 

Bills, 75-79. 

Boards and Commissions, 92, 
117. 

Borough government, 175; offi- 
cers, 175. 

Bribery, in. 

Burgess, the chief, 177. 

Capital, the State, 17. 

Capitol, the State, 136. 

Charters and Constitutions of 
Pennsylvania, 19. 

Cities, classes of, 179. 

City, nature of a, 179; govern- 
ment, 179, 180; officers, 181. 

Clerk, of the courts, 151; of or- 
phans* court, 150; the town- 
ship, 163; the town, 174. 

Commissioners, county, 145; 
township, 173. 

Commissions, Boards and, 92. 

Committees, 75. 



Commonwealth, Secretary of the, 

85- 

Compulsory education, 115, 116, 
124. 

Constable, 164; high, 178. 

Constitution of Pennsylvania, 
19, 22, 63; text of, 25. 

Controller, county, 147. 

Coroner, 149. 

Council, borough, 176; city, 181. 

County government, 141, 144. 

County, nature of a, 141; for- 
mation of a new, 141; offi- 
cers, 142. 

Court, Supreme, 96; Superior, 
98; of record, 100. 

Courts, of the State, 95; of a 
county, 152; district, 152; of 
a township, 170; of a bor- 
ough, 175, 177; of a city, 185. 

Debt, the public, 114. 
Declaration of Rights, 63. 
Departments, Executive, 80, 85, 

89; city, 183. 
Directors of the poor, 148. 
District attorney, 146. 

Education, 115; State Board of, 
117. 

Election, method of, 104, 108, 
109; districts, 104; officers, 
105, 170. 

Elections, primary, 107; regu- 
lar, 109; contested, 71, in. 

Executive Department, 80. 
187 



i88 



THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 



Expenditures of the State, 114. 

Factory Inspection, Department 

of, 90. 
Fisheries, 91. 
Flag, the State, 137. 
Forestry, 90. 
Frame of Government, Penn's, 

11, 20. 

Game commissioners, 92. 

General Assembly, 64; officers 
of, 68; meetings of, 69; pow- 
ers of, 71-74. 

Government of Pennsylvania, 
before 1874, 13; periods and 
forms of, 17; Frame of, 20; 
after 1873, 63. 

Governor, joint powers of, with 
Senate, 74; election of, 81; 
term of, 82; qualifications of, 
82; vacancy, 8y f salary, 8y, 
powers and duties, Sy 

Governors of Pennsylvania, 140. 

Health, Department of, 90. 
High schools, 126. 
Highway Department, 91. 
Holidays, legal, 136. 

Impeachment, 71, 101, 184. 
Indians, school for Cornplanter, 

126. 
Insurance Department, 89. 
Internal Affairs, Secretary of, 

87. 

Judicial Department, 95; dis- 
tricts, 153. 

Judges, 96, 98, 100, 154. 

Juries, 156. 

Jurisdiction, of Supreme Court, 
97; of Superior Court, 99. 

Jury commissioners, 149. 

Justice of the peace, 1 70. 



Law of the State, 74. 

Laws, how made, 75-79; some 

State, 139. 
Legislation, prohibitions on, 79; 

special, 79. 
Legislature, the, 64. 
Library, the State, 93. 
Lieutenant-Governor, 84. 

Magistrates, 185. 

Mayor, 182. 

Mercantile appraiser, 145. 

Militia, 127. 

Mines, Department of, 90. 

Minority, powers of a, 74. 

National government in the 
State, 135. 

National Guard of Pennsyl- 
vania, 128. 

Naval Force of Pennsylvania, 
129. 

Normal Schools, 125. 

Notary public, 171. 

Oath of office, 102. 
Officers, public, 129. 
Offices, incompatible, 130. 
Overseers of the poor, 170. 

Pardons, 92. 

Pennsylvania, government be- 
fore 1874, 13; origin of, 13; 
name of, 15; territory and 
boundaries of, 15; capital of, 
17; periods and forms of 
government of, 17; constitu- 
tions of, 19; government after 

1873, 6 3- 
People, relation to the State, 

9- 
Police court, 185. 
Political divisions of the United 

States, 10. 
Preamble, 63. 
Primaries, 107. 



INDEX 



189 



Prison inspectors, 148. 
Prohibitions on legislation, 79. 
Prothonotary, 151. 

Receipts of the State, 114. 
Recorder of deeds, 149. 
Register of wills, 150. 
Removal from office, 102. 
Representatives, State, 64-68. 
Roads, 91, 166, 167. 

School districts, 116; officials, 
116; directors, 120, 164, 168; 
attendance, 124; term, 125; 
appropriation, 126. 

Schools, the public, 115; Nor- 
mal, 125: high, 126; special, 
126; State, 126. 

Senators, State, 64-68. 

Senators, United States, election 
of, 73; vacancy, 73. 

Sheriff, 146. 

Sinking fund, 86, 114. 

Solicitor, county, 145. 

Special legislation, 79. 

State, of the United States, 7; 
relation to nation, 7; relation 
to another State, 9; relation 
to the people, 9; Department, 
85; police, 91; Board of Edu- 
cation, 117; institutions, 93, 
126, 



Suffrage and elections, 103. 

Superintendent, of Public In- 
struction, 88, 117; county, 
118, 142, 149; district, 120; 
assistant, 120. 

Supervising principal, 120. 

Supervisors, 165. 

Surveyor, county, 148. 

Tax collector, 169. 

Taxes, State, 112; school, 127; 
county, 159; township, 172; 
borough, 178. 

Teachers, 123. 

Text-books, 122, 123. 

Townships, origin of, 161; gov- 
ernment, 161, 165; nature of, 
162; formation of a new, 162; 
classes, 163; officers, 163, 
172; of second class, 163; of 
first class, 172. 

Treasurer, State, 86; county, 
147; township, 170, 174. 

Trials, 98, 100, 156. 

Vacancies, in executive offices, 

94; in county offices, 119, 143; 

in township offices, 106, 121, 

164, 173. 
Voters, qualifications of, 103; 

privileges of, 104. 

Zoologist, the Economic, 89. 



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